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Cops, BGB on alert

Jamaat prepares for agitation

Staff Correspondent
Law enforcers have been alerted to any law and order situation across the country ahead of the verdict on appeals in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
"Police superintendents of all districts were asked to take necessary measures to avoid any untoward incidents," Hassan Mahmood Khandker, inspector general of police, told The Daily Star last night.
Police, said the IGP, is prepared to tackle any probable violence.
The Supreme Court is set to declare the verdict today on appeals in the case against the 74-year-old Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 28 last year had handed death penalty to him for committing crimes against humanity in Pirojpur during the Liberation War in 1971.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan said special security measures will be taken in Jamaat strongholds.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops have been deployed in different districts last night.
Maj Gen AzizAhmed, director general of BGB, said troops were deployed in seven to eight districts as of 10:00pm as per demands from the civil administration.
The paramilitary force will remain deployed in district headquarters, but if required, the BGB members will move to any location from there, he added.
The Jamaat is likely to announce a tougher agitation programme including hartal if the SC upheld Sayedee’s capital punishment, party sources said.
In an emergency meeting last night Jamaat policymakers discussed its next course of action over the SC verdict.
Party high-ups have asked its leaders and activists and Islami Chhatra Shibir men to get prepared for any tougher movement, a Shibir leader told this newspaperyesterday.
The law and order issue came at the forefront of people's mind as the news of SC verdict in Sayedee's case spread yesterday noon. People feared about recurrence of widespread violence across the country over the verdict as they saw over one and a half years ago.
WILD PROTESTS
Immediately after the tribunal's verdict Jamaat-Shibir activists had unleashed terror across the country to protest Sayedee's death penalty. At least 65 people were killed and several hundreds injured within seven days after the ver-dict.
Besides, temples, houses, shops and businesses of religious minorities, especially the Hindus, were vandalised and torched.
And that was not all. Houses and
properties of prosecution witnesses, prosecutors and judges of tribunals came under attack allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir men during the anti-govemment movement last year.
A key prosecution witness in Sayedee's case, Mostafa Hawlader was injured critically in December last year when he came under attack allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir men at his house in Pirojpur. He died of his wounds two days later.
Another prosecution witness Mahabubul Alam Howlader was injured in an attack allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir activists on October 28 last year.
Talking to this correspondent, Mahabubul yesterday said though the government has provided the witnesses with strong security, they still feared fresh attacks.
Meanwhile, police in Pirojpur, the home district of Sayedee, have taken necessary measures to tackle any law and order situation, reports our correspondent.
Shah Abid Hossain, superintendent of Pirojpur police, said security has been beefed up for all witnesses in Sayedee's case.
After holding an emergency meeting, Jamaat yesterday issued a release calling upon the people to pray for Sayedee so that the government cannot "victimize” him.
The party demanded immediate release of Sayedee claiming that he was handed punishment on "false and imaginary charges".
Although Jamaat earlier called hartals for almost every dates of verdict delivery by the international crimes tribunals, it refrained from enforcing a shutdown this time around.
GONOJAGORON MANCHA BACK
Led by Imran H Sarker, a faction of Gonojagoron Mancha gathered at the capital's Shahbagh last evening, demanding capital punishment for Sayedee.
Speaking at a rally, Imran said people wants to see appropriate punishment meted out on Sayedee for his crimes against humanity.
"People will not allow any conspiracy over the verdict If the verdict doesn't reflect people's expectations, they will once again take to the streets and realise their demands through waging a spontaneous movement as they did in the past" he insisted.