The battles for fresh polls or status quo – 13 days on

The countrywide indefinite transport blockade, enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, entered 13th day on Sunday.
Vehicular movement in the capital was as usual as blockaders were hardly seen on the streets in the morning. Rail communication of

Motiur Rahman, JCD leader of Kansat killed on early Thursday

Dhaka with other districts was normal.
A large number of law enforcers remained deployed in different parts of the capital to fend off any trouble.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia called the countrywide indefinite blockade from January 6 (Tuesday) as the government did not allow her party and allies to hold protest rallies in the capital.The 12th day of the countrywide indefinite transport blockade on Saturday passed off amid escalating violence.
Six more buses were torched at Mirpur-13, Mirpur-11, Bangabandhu Avenue, Science Laboratory crossing, Gabtali and Technical intersection near Gabtali bus stand.
According to reports blockaders set ablaze a goods-laden truck in Gaibandha and a sugar-laden truck in Bogra.
A good number of CNG-run auto-rickshaws were also vandalised by the pickets in several districts.
The 20-party activists brought out processions in support of the blockade in Sylhet, Tangail, Chuadanga and Barisal.
Some 53 leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested from different areas in Rajshahi, Nimilphamari, Sirajganj and Tangail districts.
The 20-party has called a 36-hour hartal in eight districts of Rajshahi division from Sunday protesting the ‘killing of a JCD leader by Rab men’ in Chapainawabganj.  A joint forces operation by police, Bgb and Rab has been started in Chapainawabganj. BBC reported on Sunday morning that villages in shibganj upazila of the districts have been deserted because of the fear of action by law enforcers. The local Rab commander Major Kamruzzaman said that Motiur Rahman, who reportedly torched vehicles and obstructed transport movement on roads was killed in a ‘gunfight.’
Motiur’s father Unshakh Ali Montu said, “Rab took him away unlawfully from an eggplant field near his house and killed him. I want justice after proper investigation.”
Motiur was a student of Kansat Soleyman Ali Degree College and the vice-president of JCD’s Shyampur union.
On Saturday Daily Star reported: Shahjahan Mia, president of Chapainawabganj district BNP and district coordinator of 20-party alliance, alleged Motiur was a victim of “extrajudicial killing”.
“The joint forces of Rab, BGB and police are carrying out atrocities in some areas of Chapainawabganj. They have orders from the government to kill. They raided some villages of Shibganj-Kansat and killed opposition leaders and activists, torched many of their houses,” BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said.
Rab said criminals had been torching and hurling crude bombs and petrol bombs at goods-laden trucks and vehicles of law enforcers almost every day in Chapainawabganj.
The Rab claimed to have been conducting special drives to control the situation since Thursday.
Meanwhile, a daylong hartal, enforced by the local unit of BNP protesting the ‘confinement’ of its chief Khaleda Zia and demanding the release of its all detained leaders and activists, passed off along with the blockade in Rangpur on Saturday. – News Desk