The second day of the nationwide nonstop blockade, enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance to resist the January-5 ‘one-sided’ parliamentary polls, was marked by stray incidents of violence on Thursday. The blockade programme began at 6am on Wednesday and it would continue until further announcement. In the capital, miscreants exploded four crude bombs near the residence of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at Gulshan in the city in the evening. Police said the crude bombs were set off on the west side of the house of the opposition leader around 6:55pm. Meanwhile, at least 15 people were injured as several crude bombs were exploded at the election rally of Awami League candidate from Dhaka-7 constituency Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin in old part of the city in the afternoon. Blockaders blasted 6-7 crude bombs on Topkhana road and Dhanmondi area while a bus of ‘Pallabi Super Service’ was torched by miscreants near Sony Cinema in Mirpur-2. Besides, members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in a drive recovered 43 hand bombs from the city’s Mohammadpur area in the morning. Rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and battery-run three wheelers dominated the city streets. In Gazipur, three people sustained burn injuries as miscreants set fire to a truck by hurling a petrol bomb at Shafipur in Kaliakoir upazila on Wednesday night. In Rajshahi, miscreants hurled two crude bombs targeting the motorcade of Awami League presidium member Mohammad Nasim in Charghat upazilain the afternoon. Around 20 vehicles were either torched or vandalised in other districts, including Dinajpur, Satkhira and Natore. Meanwhile, police and joint forces in separate drives arrested over 100 activists of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir from separate places of Joypurhat, Satkhira, Chittagong, Khulna, Bhola, Sirajganj and Nilphamari districts on Wednesday night and early Thursday. The first day of the blockade passed off peacefully barring some stray incidents of violence that left a Jubo Dal man dead in firing by BGB in Chandpur sadar upazila on Wednesday. The opposition alliance has been on nonstop agitation programme since the Election Commission announced the election schedule on November 25 fixing the balloting date for January 5. The 18-party has already enforced countrywide road-rail-waterway blockade for 22 days (501 hours) since November 26 in five spells –71-hour, 131-hour, 144-hour and 72-hour and 83-hour ones — after the announcement of the election schedule that left at least 120 people dead. – UNB
