Khaleda leaves cantt house

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IT'S NOT IJTEMA OR HOMEBOUND EID CROWD! : Residents of Narayanganj, to avoid troubled journey through the worn-out roads and subsequent gridlock, are now using shuttle trains to reach the capital everyday. — FE Photo by Shafiqul Alam

Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Begum Khaleda Zia on Sunday "vacated" her cantonment residence hours after police and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) troops laid a siege around the house to "execute a High Court order", report agencies.
"She had left her 6 Mainul Road residence at the cantonment sharing her respect to the High Court order," an army spokesman told newsmen adding that the Cantonment Board authorities extended her the "due honour" as she vacated the house.
Begum Zia's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, however, alleged that the law enforcement agency people forced her to board on a jeep after "evicting" her from her Dhaka Cantonment house.
Inter Service Public Relations director Shahinul Islam said Begum Zia had some of her personal belongings with her, while the "authorities" would make an inventory of the remaining items.
Asked where the opposition leader went, Islam said "she is a respected person -- a former prime minister and currently the opposition leader -- she can go anywhere".
But a police officer who witnessed the proceedings relating to her departure said Begum Zia's personal car, carrying the national standard, drove out of the cantonment area.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) troops laid a siege around her cantonment residence earlier on the day while army called it part of a process to regain possession of the house in line with a High Court judgment.
BNP has called for a countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike for to-day (Sunday) protesting the "eviction" of its chief Khaleda Zia from her cantonment residence.
In a press conference at her political office in the city, BNP chief Khaleda Zia broke down once again as she lamented that she has been torn away from her memories.
"They have uprooted me from my age-old memories," said Khaleda referring to the eviction from her residence of three decades and a half from where she saw her husband, the military strongman Ziaur Rahman's rise and fall.
She claimed that the defence personnel had insulted her when she was driven out of her cantonment house.
She claimed she was not given enough time to prepare.
BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain announced the programme during a briefing at the party headquarters following the joint party meeting on Saturday noon.
Khaleda Zia was "evicted" from her house on Shaheed Mainul Road, which was leased out to her and her two sons by deposed military ruler H M Ershad following the assassination of the then president, Ziaur Rahman, in a military coup in Chittagong on May 30 in 1981. The house on a 12.72 acre plot in Dhaka Cantonment was formerly the official residence of the deputy chief of army staff, a position once held by Ziaur Rahman.
Delwar warned tougher demonstrations in future if their peaceful programme for Sunday is disrupted by law enforcers.
The briefing was held at the BNP headquarters in Naya Paltan. Following the briefing, party activists tried to bring out a procession in front of the office but were dispersed by the police.
Meanwhile, the ruling Awami League thanked Leader of the Opposition Leader and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia for leaving the "disputed" Cantonment house on Saturday.
"Thanks to the opposition leader. Though it's late, she, at last, has left the cantonment house abiding by the court's verdict and aspiration of the people," said Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif.
Addressing a press briefing at the Awami League President Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Dhanmondi office in the afternoon, he, however, criticized BNP for "playing a dirty game of double standard politics" centering Khaleda's leaving from the house at Cantonment.
Hanif said BNP has created a reign of terror across the city following Khaleda Zia's departure from the house that she kept under her occupation "illegally" for long time.
"We strongly condemn and protest BNP's tyrannical, anarchic and heinous activities just three days before the holy Eid-ul-Ajha."
He said BNP always uses the name of Islam, the religion of peace, to meet their political ends, but now they have called for hartal on the eve of the Eid festival.
Hanif said there is no scope for saying that Awami League (AL) has influenced the process of vacating the cantonment house. "It is the court that has ordered Khaleda Zia to vacate the house."
He alleged that Khaleda Zia did not grab only the cantonment house, she has taken lands in the city's Dakkhin Khan area and a house at Gulshan.
The AL leader said hartal and politics of vandalism just to protect any one's illegal house will remain as a black chapter in the history of country's politics.
On his part, the BNP Secretary General Delwar Hossain alleged at his press briefing that his party chief Khaleda Zia was forcibly dragged out of her cantonment house.
Having spoken to Khaleda after she reached her Gulshan office, Delwar said in a press briefing on Saturday that the BNP chief was made to leave her house against her wishes.
He termed the eviction 'aggressive' and an instance of 'terrorism of the state'.
Around 3:30pm, Khaleda, surrounded by law enforcers, reached her Gulshan office after being 'evicted' from the cantonment house.
Law enforcers detained around 50 activists during the clash and were taken away on a police van.
Around noon, the activists of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, the labour front of the BNP, brought out a procession in front of the party headquarters. The police attacked the procession and dispersed demonstrators. The demonstrators started chanting slogans protesting the 'eviction' and threw brickbats at the police. A number of vehicles were vandalised at that time.
The police detained four activists from the scene.
Agitated BNP activists set fire to five buses in the capital as a part of their protest against the eviction of party chief Khaleda Zia from her cantonment residence.
Buses were set on fire in Motijheel, Fakirapul, Mirpur and Gabtali around 2pm the day. Another bus was set on fire in Dar-Us-Salam area around 2.45pm.
Senior station officer at the Siddiq Bazar fire service headquarters Mohammad Halim told the news agencies that a double-decker bus of state-owned transport company Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) was vandalised and set on fire in front of Fakirapul Water Tank.
He added, "The fire was brought under control within 15 minutes."
The fire service control room said that around the same time three buses were set on fire in front of Notre Dam College, Mirpur-10 and Gabtali.
Witnesses said that all the buses were vandalised and set on fire.
The police charged baton to disperse BNP demonstrators from Dhaka Cantonment's Jahangir Gate.
Chases and counter-chases took place between opposition activists and law enforcers as the police pushed demonstrators towards Mohakhali. However, a number of opposition leaders including opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque were then at the cantonment gate. (More on Page 2)