Arrests mark half-day hartal in Bangladesh's capital

Dozens of activists were arrested during a half-day strike in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Sunday enforced protesting the government's gas exploration deal with a foreign company and removal of "Absolute Faith and Trust in Allah" from the country's constitution.

The shutdown was separately called by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, a non- political body formed to protect natural resources of Bangladesh, and the Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB), a religion-based political party.

The non-political body has called the hartal to protest the government's signing of a production sharing contract (PSC) with U. S. company Conoco-Phillips on June 16. According to the PSC, Conoco-Phillips will get 80 to 85 percent of the lifted gas at the cost-recovery stage, local bdnews24.com reported.

Coinciding with the non-political body, IAB called the hartal to protest removal of "Absolute Faith and Trust in Allah" from the constitution during the 15th amendment on Thursday.

At the very beginning of the hartal hours, police nabbed Anu Muhammad, secretary general of the non-political body with over a dozen activists of the body but dropped Muhamma half an hour later.

Ahmad Abdul Kaiyum, the IAB's publicity secretary, told reporters that "Over 50 of the party's activists have been arrested until Sunday morning since Saturday noon from different parts of the city."

Kaiyum also alleged that they were barred from holding rallies and processions at different places of the capital.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

However, most educational institutions and markets in the city were closed during the hartal hours. Man-peddled rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were seen to dominate the city streets as buses and minibuses mostly stayed off the roads.

Source: Xinhua

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