Extremist crackdown nets 85 in Bangladesh

Eighty-five of those arrested were arrested for their alleged links with banned Islamist organisations while the rest were wanted for various crimes, police spokesman Kamrul Hasan said.

Many of those arrested have criminal backgrounds, including involvement in violence and narcotics, according to local press reports on Monday.

Christian leaders including a Catholic bishop have criticized and cast doubt over the effectiveness of an ongoing anti-militancy drive that have seen thousands of arrests in Bangladesh over the past three days.

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party yesterday that the police would stamp out the violence. She referred to the mayhem of 2015 and made it clear that every killer will be brought to Justice.

“Hundreds of opposition activists have been arrested in the police drive”, Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of leading opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), told AFP.

Dhaka – The police headquarters have said at least 85 more suspected militants were arrested during the nationwide clampdown launched in the wake of recurrence of attacks claimed by banned Islamist outfits, officials said on Sunday.

Of the 3,192 arrested, 1,861 were held after arrest warrants were issued by court, police said in a media release on Saturday.

“By concentrating on targeting the opposition, the police are failing to curb criminality; the prisons are overburdened by the mass arrests of opposition leaders and activists; and the judiciary, perceived as partisan for trials and sentences based on political grounds, is losing credibility.”

Militants have killed more than 30 people in Bangladesh since early past year, including atheist bloggers, liberal academics, gay rights campaigners and foreign aid workers.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a string of brutal attacks by Islamists. Islamic State said over the weekend that it was behind the killing of a Hindu priest in northeast Bangladesh, according to the SITE intelligence group, which tracks jihadist activity.

Marcia Bernicat, U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, said that there have been at least 35 attacks in the span of 14 months; 23 of these were claimed by an Islamist terror group.

It blames the attacks exclusively on domestic groups aligned with political opposition parties, though it has presented no evidence of such a campaign and the opposition denies the allegations.