Jatiya Party on Friday night cancelled its today鈥檚 pre-scheduled programme for protest rally and procession in the capital鈥檚 Kakrail following a police ban on the venue amid growing tension with student organisers.
On Friday evening, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police slapped a ban on holding any meetings, rallies and protest processions on Pioneer Road and its adjacent areas today as Jatiya Party and the Anti-Fascist Students, Workers, and Public group announced confrontational programmes at the spot.
After vandalising and setting fire to the Jatiya Party central office in the capital on Thursday evening, student organisers announced that they would hold a programme at the same venue where Jatiya Party announced its programme about a week ago.
Jatiya Party in a statement on Friday night said that they decided to cancel the programme showing respect to law and would announce a fresh schedule later.聽 The police placed the ban following Section 29 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance to maintain public order to contain any untoward situations, according to a DMP public notice signed by its commissioner Md Mainul Hasan.
On Thursday evening, the Jatiya Party central office in the capital鈥檚 Kakrail was vandalised and set on fire, after a reported attack on a torch procession brought out by the Anti-Fascist Students, Workers, and Public.
Jatiya Party had announced to hold a rally in front of its central office about a week ago but the anti-fascist students, workers and public group on Thursday night after vandalising and setting its office on fire threatened that they would not allow it to hold any programmes.
The demands of the JP鈥檚 today鈥檚 scheduled programme is to contain the prices of essential commodities and withdraw all 鈥榝alse cases鈥� against JP chairman, secretary general and others leaders.
Addressing a press conference held at the Jatiya Party chairman鈥檚 office on Friday morning, its chairman Ghulam Muhammad Quader iterated its decision to hold at any cost a peaceful rally in front of the party鈥檚 central office in Kakrail.
Condemning the miscreants鈥� attack on its central office, Quader said, 鈥楯atiya Party was a democratic political party which did not support fascist activities of Awami League.鈥�
Addressing a press conference at Dhaka University鈥檚 Teacher Student Centre on Friday afternoon, meanwhile, Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad president Bin Yamin Molla said that if Jatiya Party was allowed to hold programmes, it would be another conspiracy to rehabilitee fascist Awami League with which it collaborated.
鈥榃e will not allow Jatiya Party to hold any programmes,鈥� he vowed.
During the press conference, Yamin Molla alleged that the Awami League cadres in a planned manner gathered at the Jatiya Party office on Thursday.
鈥榃hen we arrived at Kakrail, they attacked us all of a sudden. We have information that they are bringing in Awami League cadres from different parts of the country to hold the rally tomorrow,鈥� he alleged.
After the attack on the Jatiya Party office on Friday night, Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the Students鈥� Movement Against Discrimination, the platform that headed the student-mass uprising, accused the Jatiya Party of attack on their activists through a post on his verified Facebook page.
Asked about whether Jatiya Party would take legal moves against the attacks on its central office, party secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu said that they would file a case against the attackers soon.
DMP Ramna Division deputy commissioner Masud Alam on Friday evening said that so far no case was filed over the attack.