Rail tracks uprooted, buses torched 50 injured as train derails, BNP says blockade to continue.

The countrywide blockade called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance for an indefinite period continued for the third straight day on Thursday amid arson attacks on and vandalising of vehicles, uprooting of rail tracks and clashes between blockaders and law enforcers at places.
Train services between Sylhet and the rest of the country remained cut off for about 20 hours and in the western railway zone for four hours as rail tracks were uprooted presumably by the blockaders. At least 50 passengers sustained injuries when the locomotive and five coaches of an express train derailed at Moulvibazar after the uprooting of tracks.

The blockade has paralysed nationwide road communication though trains and ferries operated as usual and transport services in the capital and other cities were almost normal on Thursday though passengers feared attack by blockaders.Public transports operated between some districts on a limited scale amid stray incidents of violence.Blockaders marched in surprise processions, set fire to and vandalised vehicles, hurled crude bombs and started fire on roads at different places, including in the capital.Activists of the ruling Awami League and its front organisations were found guarding some key points in the capital as elsewhere in the country to foil the blockade. They also marched in anti-blockade processions and held rallies.
Law enforcers, including paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh, remained vigilant across the country against subversive activities.

 

Left, blockaders fell a tree on Kansat-Sonamasjid land port highway in Chapainawabganj on Thursday, snapping communication between the busy land port and rest of the country while, right, amid a crisis of public transport, five members of a family ride a motorbike risking accidents in Narayanganj on the day. — New Age/Focusbangla photosLaw enforcers rounded up several hundred leaders and activists of BNP and its ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami across the country on Thursday and filed cases against several thousand activists.BNP alleged that nearly 150 of its activists were arrested while another 150 were wounded on Thursday while Jamaat alleged that over 300 of its activists were arrested on the day.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia announced the blockade after she was confined to her Gulshan office by the law enforcers and a ban was slapped on rallies in Dhaka and at places across the country to prevent the alliance from staging protests marking the anniversary of the January 5, 2014 general elections boycotted by opposition parties.

Khaleda on Wednesday night in a press statement asked the countrymen to continue the blockade while party joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Thursday the blockade would continue until the government concedes to its demand for a participatory election under a non-party neutral government.Rizvi told a group of newsmen at a residence at Baridhara that the government had continued repression on the opposition killing three activists on Wednesday and arresting scores.Speculation was rife on Thursday that the BNP-led alliance might withdraw or at least relax the blockade ahead of Bishwa Ijtema which begins today.Transport services in the capital were almost normal in the day time on Thursday but traffic turned thinner after sunset when several vehicles were set on fire and vandalised. Hundreds of people suffered waiting for hours for transport.
Two people suffered burns as miscreants torched several vehicles and exploded bombs in the evening.

Rickshaw-puller Jamir Hossain suffered grievous injuries when four bombs were blasted at Paltan around 8:30pm, said the police.Passenger Sahidullah suffered burns in an arson attack on a bus at Gulistan.At least three other vehicles were set ablaze in Tejgaon industrial area, Matsa Bhaban and Sadargath areas in the night.Several crude bombs were exploded at Karwanbazar around 9:30pm in a bid to create panic prompting the police to fire in the air.Transport operators said they wanted to continue inter-district service, but the number of passengers was far less than usual.
At least four vehicles were torched at Banasree, New Market, Sadargath and Motijheel in the afternoon, said fire service headquarters.
According to the reports sent by New Age correspondents in districts, over 100 vehicles were either torched or vandalised by blockaders across the country.

Protesters put logs on roads and set fire to spent tyres to stop and vandalise vehicles and clashed with the police at places across the country.
Two BRTC buses were set on fire in Khulna, two or three buses were vandalised in Bogra, nearly 20 buses torched and vandalised in Narayanganj, 15 vehicles damaged in Jhenaidah, three vandalised in Narsingdi, an inter-district bus was set ablaze in Pirojpur, two inter-district buses were vandalised in Manikganj, a truck in Jaipurhat, three trucks torched, 10 others vandalised and about 50 auto-rickshaws were damaged in Chapainawabganj, according to the reports reaching New Age until 8:00pm Thursday.The correspondents said police arrested 35 activists of BNP and Jamaat in Bogra, 38 in Lakshmipur, 16 in Moulvibazar, 36 in Pabna, 15 in Chandpur, 31 in Sunamganj and 16 in Noakhali while cases were filed against 3,700 unnamed BNP-Jamaat men in Noakhali, 90 in Pirojpur, 66 in Bogra, and 100 in Sunamganj.

Train services between Sylhet and the rest of the country remained snapped for about 20 hours after the locomotive and five coaches of a Udayan Express train derailed at Moulvibazar as miscreants uprooted the tracks. Railway communication between Sylhet and other districts resumed at about 9:00pm.Divisional railway manager (Dhaka) Quamrul Ahsan told New Age that five coaches along with the locomotive of the Chittagong-bound Udayan Express that had started from Sylhet derailed near Shamshernagar station on Sylhet-Akhaura section around 3:00am.
The authorities said that fishplates were removed from 20 feet of the tracks causing the accident. They suspected that blockaders were responsible for the sabotage.New Age Jaipurhat correspondent reported that railway communication in western zone remained suspended for four hours as blockaders uprooted about 36 feet of tracks in Urir Bridge area of Jaipurhat Sadar upazila on Thursday.

Jaipurhat station master Nurul Islam said that they had noticed the sabotage around 7:00am.Abul Kalam Siddiq, superintendent of police in Jaipurhat, said train communication resumed around 10:00am.In addition to the blockade, the BNP-led alliance also enforced a dawn-to-dusk general strike in several districts and cities, including Sylhet, Barisal, Noakhali and Jessore. A half-day general strike was enforced in Manikganj.

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