Nationwide arrest of Islamist activists, students in Bangladesh

DHAKA - Authorities in Bangladesh have arrested over 200 activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, following Monday’s campus violence in Rajshahi University in which a student was killed.

In Monday’s violence, over 100 students 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.

One Chhatra League leader was killed in Dhaka Friday.

The Awami League lawmakers 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 Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its associate body of students Islami Chhatra 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.