More Than 5000 Arrested in Bangladesh Sweep

All because she wants to pamper her Muslim vote bank and keep them happy.

Before the seven-day crackdown started, police conducted raids that led to at least nine suspects being killed in shootouts.

National police chief Shahidul Hoque defended the crackdown, saying only those suspected of wrongdoing were being picked up.

Militants have killed more than 30 people in Bangladesh since early past year, majority activists, foreign aid workers, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party yesterday that the police would stamp out the violence.

Though, Militants are yet to take the responsibility of the murder, the police are suspecting militants’ links with the murder that bore similarities with the earlier murders by Islamic militants in Bangladesh.

More than 3,000 people, including militants, have been arrested in Bangladesh as part of efforts to end the series of attacks against minorities and bloggers, among others.

Apart from the 34 suspected militants, 2,578 were “wanted”, 19 were accused of arms cases, 160 of narcotics-related lawsuits and 454 fugitives of different cases, reports the Daily Star.

The government has been criticized for not doing more to respond to the killings.

She has accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist party ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating the killings to destabilise the country. Yesterday, 3,192 people had been arrested.

Islamist militants are claiming responsibility for the murders, but this is disputed by the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group. “The authorities must categorically condemn these killings, carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation, deliver justice for the victims, hold the perpetrators accountable, and protect those still under threat”.

Last week, a 60-year-old Hindu ashram worker was hacked to death by IS jihadists, days after another priest was killed by the same terrorist group in the Muslim-majority nation.

Last month junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam told Reuters that Islamic State was trying to ride a wave of religious radicalisation by falsely claiming killings and said there was enough evidence implicating domestic militant groups.

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.