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Verdict catches BNP off-guard

20 vehicles vandalised in advance thinking judgment would go against Tarique

Staff Correspondent
Around 45 minutes before the announcement of verdict in a high-profile graft case against Tarique Rahman and Giasuddin Al Mamun, BNP activists yesterday set fire to a BRTC bus at Matidali in Bogra.
A quarter of an hour before the sentencing, the proopposition men had set ablaze three vehicles and vandalised several others in front of Bogra Police Lines, Nishchintopur, Mohasthan, Baghopara and Gokul areas.
The party men made all-out preparations to stage stormy demonstrations and even enforce hartal, apprehending that Tarique, also senior vice-chairman of the party, would be convicted in the money laundering case.
But when a Dhaka court yesterday acquitted Tarique, elder son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the leaders and activists made a IJ-turn.
Soon after the verdict, BNP leaders and activists hailed the verdict, distributed sweetmeats among themselves and
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held rallies at the court premises and other parts of the country to rejoice.
Senior BNP leaders including the party spokesperson Fakhrul Islam Alamgir a day before the verdict had said the court might convict Tarique on "instructions of the government".
As soon as the judge left the courtroom after delivering the verdict, hundreds of pro-BNP lawyers burst into loud cheers and shouted slogans in and outside of the courtroom.
BNP activists, who were preparing at the party's Naya Paltan office to stage violent protests, also burst into celebration as the news of Tarique's acquittal reached there.
Talking to reporters, Fakhrul said, "All the cases filed against Tarique Rahman are false and politically motivated. This verdict has proved that he was not involved in any kind of corruption."
But in Bogra, BNP men vandalised at least 20 vehicles including passenger-laden buses, set fire to five vehicles and blockaded
Dhaka-Rangpur highway both before and after the verdict.
They also torched a truck at Charmatha and vandalised several other vehicles on Bogra-Molamgari road in Ghoradhap.
Joynal Abedin, general secretary of BNP's Bogra unit, however, said BNP men were not involved in vandalism and setting fire to those vehicles.
"We would have reacted violently if Tarique was falsely convicted. But we held a rally to celebrate and distributed sweetmeats after the court acquitted Tarique," he added.
Sources said the party, especially its Bogra unit, and its student wing Jatiyatabadi Ghhatra Dal (JGD) were ready to carry out violent protests if the verdict had gone againstTarique.
A leader of JGD's Dhaka University unit told The Daily Star that they had decided to hurl handmade bombs in the city and its outskirts.
"But instead, we have participated in the rally to celebrate the acquittal," the leader added.