[Dawn] Police in BangladeshÂ’s capital fired tear gas and tossed in the slammerYou have the right to remain silent...
dozens of protesters as the nationÂ’s largest Islamic party enforced a daylong strike that has shut schools and businesses across the country.
The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami
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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...
party called the strike to demand authorities halt trials of its top leaders on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 war against Pakistain in which the country got its independence.
Witnesses say several buses and three-wheel vehicles that tried to ignore TuesdayÂ’s strike were either vandalized or torched in the capital, Dhaka.
TV footage showed protesters clashing with police firing tear gas. About 50 protesters were reportedly arrested in Dhaka, reported the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Jamaat-e-IslamiÂ’s top eight leaders are on trial for allegedly collaborating with the Mighty Pak Army in committing atrocities during the war. The party denies the charges, saying theyÂ’re politically motivated.
Earlier on Monday, a teenage Jamaat activist was killed during festivities in which police fired live bullets to disperse crowds ahead of the nationwide strike, news agency AFP quoted officials as saying.
Local police chief Tariqul Islam told AFP that the cause of the activistÂ’s death was unclear while a medical official said the 18-year-old died after being admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.
The Jamaat-e-Islami member died on Monday night in violence in the northern town of Chirirbandar, 300 kilometres from the capital Dhaka.
“We fired seven rounds of live bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas shells,” Islam, the local police chief, said.
Shihidul Islam, a nurse at Rangpur Medical College Hospital, said the activist died as he was brought to the clinic. “He has a bullet shot in his head,” he told AFP.
About 20 coppers were also injured in the festivities, the police chief said.