Thaindian News

Dhaka, Feb 13 (IANS) Fifty eight activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, were arrested Saturday in Bangladesh following the violence earlier this week in Rajshahi University campus.
Nearly 200 activists and students were arrested till Friday night. Cases were filed against 1,585 activists in Chittagong port town, which witnessed pitched battles.

In Monday’s violence, one student was killed and over 100 others were injured in pitched battles between Shibir activists and those of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of the ruling Awami League, at Rajshahi University in western Bangladesh.

The police picked up 24 Shibir men, recovered books on jihad and batons from their possession in a drive at cottages on and around the Chittagong University campus early Saturday morning, Star Online said.

One Chhatra League leader was killed in Dhaka Friday.

Lawmakers of the ruling Awami League have demanded a ban on the Chhatra Shibir.

Campus violence has been severe and intermittent over the last year since the change of government and the political dispensation, which has triggered a turf war.

Chhatra League students are trying to recapture the control of campuses from the Chhatra Shibir, who have dominated since 2001.

The Jamaat, that returned to parliament after a 10-month boycott this week, has demanded a judicial inquiry.

In Friday’s raids, the police arrested 195 leaders and activists of the Jamaat and Shibir across the country. The arrests were made within 24 hours of the home ministry’s order for a combing operation against Shibir activists.

The police raided messes at Shahbagh and Uttara in Dhaka, hostels of Carmichael College in Rangpur, some messes in Bogra town and a college in Brahmanbaria.

Jamaat and Shibir activists clashed with the police around the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka, at Jamal Khan in Chittagong, and at Court Point in Sylhet, New Age newspaper reported Saturday.