Dhaka, Sep 8 (IANS) Bangladesh police arrested the country’s former Secretary Abu Alam Mohammad Shahid Khan in the early hours of Monday in connection with a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shahbagh Police Station.

Additionally, five more leaders and activists of the Awami League and its associate organisations were taken into custody from different parts of the capital in connection with the same case, the local media reported.

Confirming the development, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman, stated that all six individuals, including former Secretary Abu Alam, were arrested over their alleged involvement in the recently-organised event by the platform ‘Mancha 71’ at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU).

Abu Alam earlier served as Deputy Press Secretary to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Awami League government from 1996 to 2001.

According to the case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shahbagh Police Station, the accused allegedly attempted to destabilise the country through armed struggle during a roundtable discussion organised by “Mancha 71” at DRU on August 28, Bangladesh’s leading daily The Business Standard reported.

These latest developments come amid the ongoing crackdown on Awami League leaders and the activists associated with the party, under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

Earlier on August 28, the police arrested 16 people, including former minister and freedom fighter Abdul Latif Sidiqqui and Dhaka University Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, sparking public outrage across the country.

The police filed a case against them under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shahbagh Police Station.

Subsequently, on August 29, all 16 accused were sent to jail after being produced before the court.

Last week, a Bangladesh court dismissed the bail petitions of Siddique and journalist Monjurul Alam Panna in the alleged anti-terrorism case, local media reported.

The arrest followed after Siddiqui, Rahman, and others participated in a roundtable discussion, titled ‘Our Great Liberation War and the Constitution of Bangladesh’, organised by Mancha 71.

“We are witnessing that an ill attempt is going on to throw away the country’s constitution. Jamaat (Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami), Shibir (Islami Chhatra Shibir) and National Citizen Party (NCP) are behind this. Led by Muhammad Yunus, they have been humiliating freedom fighters with garlands of shoes,” Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo quoted Dhaka University professor Rahman as saying during the discussion.

Following Rahman’s speech, a group of people entered the DRU auditorium with a procession, tore down the roundtable banner, and confined the participants inside, before handing them over to the police.

Recently, the Bangladesh’s Awami League Party condemned the arrest of “heroic” freedom fighters and those inspired by the spirit of the country’s 1971 Liberation War through mob terrorism.

Slamming the Yunus-led interim government, the party said, “Since the illegal usurpation of state power by the murderous fascist Yunus clique, the people of the country have witnessed their ongoing attempts to dishonour, humiliate, and insult the Great Liberation War and our freedom fighters.”

–IANS

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