A Dhaka court has granted the police a five-day remand for Barrister Andaleeve Rahman Partho, chairman of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), over allegations of inciting violence.
Andaleeve, also a former member of parliament, was arrested earlier and produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka at 2:50pm today (25 July).
He was held around 1:00am today (25 July) from his residence in the capital's Gulshan, according to Harun-Or-Rashid, chief of the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
"He was arrested based on allegations of inciting violence during the quota reform protests," said Harun-Or-Rashid.
In a reaction to the arrest, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir issued a statement condemning the "inhumane and continuous" arrests of opposition leaders and activists in the wake of the student movement for quota reform in government jobs.
"The reasonable movement by students across the country demanding the elimination of discriminatory quotas in government jobs has led to indiscriminate arrests of BNP and other opposition party members," he said.
Referring to Andaleeve's arrest, Fakhrul said, "The government and certain members of the law enforcement agencies are falsely accusing BNP and opposition party leaders and activists of playing a role in the movement. If that was the case, why weren't they arrested from the scene of the incidents? This is the question of the people. This proves that neither BNP nor any opposition party members are involved in the movement."
He said the arrests were a strategic attempt to cover up incidents which left many dead during the protests.
"Therefore, the public demands an international investigation into the entire incident and the killings. If not, the people believe that the government should resign immediately, taking full responsibility for the failure."
