[Bangla Daily Star] It was a planned attack by the Jamaat-Shibir men. Or so it seemed. They snatched the rifle from a policeman and beat him with its butt, injured over a dozen other law enforcers, attempted to hack a Jubo League... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League...
leader and attacked law minister's private secretary's car -- all on the capital's main thoroughfares yesterday afternoon.
But that is not all. The Islamist party men torched police
cycle of violences, vandalised three news vans and dozens of public and private vehicles and beat up the common people indiscriminately.These were only a few snap shots of the guerilla-style attack from a procession of the Islami Chhatra Shibir
... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh...
, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
student wing, at Farmgate and Karwan Bazar.
It was not the first time that the Jamaat-Shibir men went on the rampage and maimed police personnel. They have done so almost every day since November 5 in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.
On November 4, the Jamaat announced a nine-day agitation programme beginning from November 5 to press home its demand for the immediate release of the party's top leaders, including those facing war crimes trial. Till Monday, more than 200 coppers, at least 300 people and three journalists were maimed during festivities between the police and Jamaat-Shibir men across the country.
They ended their protest programme yesterday through a targeted attack on the law enforcers in an unprecedented manner, leaving about 20 coppers injured in Dhaka, Khulna and Cox's Bazar.
Noticeably, the police role during these attacks throughout the week seemed very unusual. They either tried to escape those attacks or were just silent observers, witnesses said.
Only a few coppers went on a counter attack, mainly in self-defence, they added.
Never in the past had police played such a passive role during a political violence.