We feel that such traffic blockage is wrong. On the other hand the issue is very important that where these slum dwellers in thousands would go. Government has to do something about that. High court benches should be careful in issuing orders in such sensitive cases.
"Satkhira incident is deplorable. An actor made insulting comments about the Prophet Muhammad (sm). .This is not a small matter. It is very sensitive issue. This should be fully investigated and severe punishment should be given to the offenders. Some houses were burnt as a result. This must be investigated and criminals punished.
However we are surprised that Hindu students of Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University did not demand punishment of the actor who insulted the Prophet. They have bypassed such a serious sensitive issue. This shows their communal mind. They should have demanded punishment of all criminals."
Satkhira Incidents, Slum Clearing and Traffic blockage in Dhaka by University Hindu students and Slum dwellers: Government should take Action on al These Issues
Thousands of people suffered in huge tailbacks as Karail slum dwellers and Dhaka university students blocked roads in the capital's Mohakhali and Shahbagh areas from morning till afternoon yesterday. Airport Road traffic came to a halt around 9:00am, the peak business hour, as over a thousand people put up barricades at Chairmanbari, Amtoli intersection and Mohakhali Wireless Gate, protesting their eviction from Karail slum on Wednesday.
DU Jagannath Hall students demonstrated in Shahbagh area, obstructing vehicular movement from around 11:00am.
They demanded justice for assaults on minorities by a group of religious bigots irate over a drama at Fatehpur High School in Kaliganj upazila, Satkhira.The agitating students withdrew the blockade around 1:45pm following a home ministry assurance of a probe into the alleged incident and at the request of DU Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique.
At Mohakhali, people who had been evicted from the Karail slum in government action were joined by those in fear of losing homes through a similar drive.Police stopped traffic on the Gulshan-Mohakhali link road and Kemal Atatruk Avenue, suspecting the slum dwellers could vandalise vehicles, Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station, told The Daily Star.The ensuing tailback stretched several kilometres on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Navy Headquarters to Mohakhali and Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani. Traffic on all roads at Gulshan, Banani and Mohakhali came to a standstill. The congestions had an impact on other city streets as well.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited along with the district administration knocked down over two thousand slum houses and shops set up illegally near T&T School , Wireless Gate, around the BTCL satellite station and on the Gulshan lakeside. Hasina Begum, a domestic aide who was left homeless after the drive, stationed herself on a sidewalk with her meagre household belongings."I had been living in the Jheelpar slum for the last five years along with three children and my rickshaw-puller husband," she said. "Now I don't know where to go."
The HC on January 25 in a suo moto rule directed the government to remove within two months all the illegal structures on a 170-acre land owned by BTCL, Public Works Department and Ministry of Information and Communication Technology."The next drives are expected in Karail," he said, adding it depends on what position the government takes on the HC order.
The students' barricades at Shahbagh intersection stopped traffic on roads up to Matsya Bhaban, New Market, Science Laboratory, Ruposhi Bangla Hotel and Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. The patients bound for DMCH and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University went through a terrible ordeal.
The students cooled down on being informed that the Satkhira police superintendent and officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station had been closed for negligence in duties, Syed Nurul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of police (Ramna zone), told The Daily Star.Palash Devnath, a post-graduate student of DU, told The Daily Star that the attacks on minorities took place over four days from March 30 centring on a play at Fatehpur High School on March 27."At one stage of the drama, an actor mistakenly uttered some words that made a section of the audience angry," said Palash, who himself is a witness.The matter was published in a newspaper on March 29, fuelling religious bigotry.Some People attacked minority community members and set fire to a number of houses, he added.
We feel that such traffic blockage is wrong. On the other hand the issue is very important that where these slum dwellers in thousands would go. Government has to do something about that. High court benches should be careful in issuing orders in such sensitive cases.
Satkhira incident is deplorable. An actor made insulting comments about the Prophet Muhammad (sm). .This is not a small matter. It is very sensitive issue. This should be fully investigated and severe punishment should be given to the offenders. Some houses were burnt as a result. This must be investigated and criminals punished.
However we are surprised that Hindu students of Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University did not demand punishment of the actor who insulted the Prophet. They have bypassed such a serious sensitive issue. This shows their communal mind. They should have demanded punishment of all criminals.
