People throng book fair despite bomb threat
Despite a bomb threat from an extremist group a day earlier, thousands of visitors showed up at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on the Suhrawardy Udyan and Bangla Academy premises on Friday.
From Doyel Chattar to Bangla motor, hundreds of people were seen walking on foot to reach the book fair as adjacent roads were gridlocked. A large number of people stood in long queues waiting to enter Suhrawardy Udyan.
Md Ashraful Alam, a writer of a book named 'Traveller' told The Business Standard that he had to wait around half an hour to enter the fair due to long queues.
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"All three gates were packed. However, the crowd was comparatively less at the Ramna Engineers Institution gate. Police searched everyone and did not allow any bag or flammable objects inside the fair," he added.
"Book fair is a place where people can meet and greet others amid their hectic life in the city. Such bomb threats cannot deter people from joining such an occasion," he added.
Tasnuva Adiba, publisher of Adhyan felt relieved as thousands of people showed up on Friday. She told TBS that they were experiencing a huge crowd as it was the last Friday for the fair.
"We were a little tense about the extremist threat since Thursday night but a large number of people showed up," she added.
Farid Ahmed, the owner of Somoy Prakashan, said that book lovers started coming to the fair in the morning amid strict security measures.
The venue was swept with dog squads on Friday morning.
He said that they have tightened security and checking at the book fair grounds and requested visitors to cooperate for their safety.
However, the counter terrorism and transnational crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police ruled out such bomb threats rather they termed it as 'anonymous letter'.
The letter threatened "unless illegal activities are stopped at two Jatrabari hotels, there will be bomb attacks at the Book Fair and the police headquarters."
Md Asaduzzaman, additional commissioner of DMP and chief of CTTC claimed there were no previous instances of terror attacks by militant groups in Bangladesh by sending anonymous letters beforehand.
He said "It's an anonymous letter, the letter has been sent to draw law enforcement agencies attention. However, we are looking into the matter with seriousness."
The CTTC chief also said that the CCTV footage of adjacent areas of the postal office and Bangla Academy are being analysed as well.
Earlier on Thursday, Miscreants sent a letter to the director general of Bangla Academy, threatening a bomb attack at the academy premises during the Amar Ekushey book fair.
Md Jahangir Alam, security officer of Bangla Academy, filed a general diary with the Shahbagh Police Station Thursday over the threat.
Bangla Academy director general Mohammad Nurul Huda said that he was personally concerned about his safety as well, when the threat letter came to him.
Meanwhile, security was beefed up at the book fair premises.
Briefing media on Friday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner for Ramna division Md Shahidullah said there is no reason to be alarmed by the letter allegedly by the banned extremist organisation Ansar Al Islam.
"We have received such letters before. There is no reason to be alarmed over the letter,' said DC Shahidullah.
Police officials at the venue said they were checking the visitors thoroughly to avoid any untoward incident.
