No progress in Hifazat cases

Police have not finished investigating the cases filed over violence during a rally organised by Hifazat-e Islam in Dhaka exactly a year ago. Police says the 42 cases filed after the Hifazat-inspired violence are ‘multidimensional’ and not easy to probe. Thousands of Hifazat supporters from their headquarters in Chittagong’s Hathazari arrived in the capital to press for their 13-point charter of demands through a rally in Motijheel’s Shapla Chattar on May 5 last year. Mayhem erupted, leading to casualties, arson, looting and even cutting down of trees at the rally site. The rally ended but an indefinite sit-in was announced at the commercial hub of the capital which put various establishments including the Bangladesh Bank at risk. Police, RAB and BGB organised a joint pincer operation around 3am on that day to evict the thousands of Hifazat supporters from Shapla Chattar. Hifazat later alleged that thousands were killed during the raid but evidence of that is yet to be found, according to bdnews24.com.