BartaBangla Report :: One more person was killed and many others were wounded in countrywide violence during the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s countrywide hartal-cum-blockade on Thursday.
Tofazzal Hossain, a bus helper, was burnt to death in his sleep as miscreants set fire to a passenger bus in Kaliakoir upazila of Gazipur early Thursday.
The ill-fated hailed from Narayantala in Sunamganj district.
In another incident, a private car driver, Abul Kalam, who sustained injuries in a petrol bomb attack during blockade on January 9 in Maghbazar, succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at noon.
With the fresh two deaths, the number of total victims of political violence rose to 24 till Thursday night.
Driver Selim Miah parked the bus beside his house in Mohishbathan area on Dhaka-Tangail highway around 2:30am, said Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kaliakoir police station.
Like previous days, helper Tofazzal fell asleep inside the bus. Around 3:30am, locals noticed that the bus was on fire and Tofazzal burnt alive, he added.
In the capital, pickets torched a private car near Science Laboratory and blasted home-made bombs in Bangshal during the daylong hartal.
However, large numbers of vehicles, mostly minibuses, auto-rickshaws and human haulers, plied city streets since morning.
But no long-route buses left from three inter-district bus terminals – Gabtali, Sayedabad and Mohakhali.
Huge lawmen, including police, RAB and detectives, were deployed at different strategic points to maintain order in the mega city.
Checkpoints were set up at city points, including the entry and exist ones. Law-enforcers were seen searching suspected persons as well as vehicles.
Educational institutions and business establishments remained mostly closed while government and non-government offices open but with little activities.
BNP called the strike from 6:00am to 6:00pm protesting attack on Reaz Rahman, an adviser to Khaleda Zia. The country is already facing an indefinite blockade since January 5.Transport inspector ABS Mahmud of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority said launch movement was usual but with poor passengers.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque visited DMCH to see the patients who sustained burn injuries during the ongoing blockade.
He also enquired about medical treatment of the victims at the burns unit.
Of the burn victims, three died earlier while one succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.
In a latest development, Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad declared that all kinds of vehicles, including long-route buses, will run across the country regardless of any agitation programme.
Leaders of the organisation declared this from a rally outside the National Press Club organised in protest against arson attacks on vehicles, drivers and helpers.
“Tough programmes will be launched if attacks on vehicles, drivers and transport workers won’t be stopped,” they warned.Member secretary of the organisation Osman Ali, among others, spoke at the event with Khandaker Enayet Ullah, president, in the chair.