Janata Adhikar Party chairman hired men to set buses on fire for Tk150, meal: DB chief Harun

Janata Adhikar Party Chairman Tareq hired homeless people to set buses on fire in exchange for Tk150 and a meal worth Tk100, said Harun Or Rashid, chief of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

"Janata Adhikar Party and like-minded other parties joined the 28 October [BNP] rally and attacked police, vandalised and set buses on fire," the DB chief told the media during a briefing at his office.

Harun said, "Tareq led the vandalism after he was promised a nomination in the upcoming national polls by the BNP, scheduled for early next year."

Another individual, Huda, leader of Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote, had been arrested earlier and confessed to receiving similar promises of nominations in the national polls, the DB chief added.

"Though he claimed himself the party chairman he has no activists or party leaders. When we interrogated him, he admitted to hiring men on a daily basis, paying them Tk150 and providing a Tk100 allowance for meals."

The DB chief also said, "The Janatar Adhikar Party is a member of the BNP-led 20-parties alliance [now defunct]."

Meanwhile, the BNP-led 20-party alliance had been dissolved in December 2022.

According to Harun, Tareq has a history of participating in various elections across the country. 

"He contested for the post of vice-chairman of Feni sadar upazila as an independent candidate. He also took part in Gulshan by-polls last September. His party name is--Janata Adhikar Party and he bagged only 70 votes in by-poll."

The DB chief claims that Tareq has close ties with several BNP central leaders, as "evidenced by photos with BNP Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Advisor to BNP Chairperson Abdus Salam, and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir."

"We have already arrested BNP-aligned Janatar Odhikar Party chairman Tariqul Islam for his involvement in violence and vandalism on October 28."

The DMP official said, "Tareq confessed during interrogation that his party and all 12 parties of Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote have no official registration."

The DB chief said through analysis of CCTV footage, television footage, and upon interrogation, several other individuals accused Tareq of the vandalism and arson attacks that occurred on 28 October. 

"Tareq, along with his hired men, targeted Nightingale intersection, Bijoynagar, Rajarbagh Police Hospital, and other establishments," said the DB chief.

Responding to a query by the journalists, Harun opined that they could not achieve any "big thing" by setting fire to some buses.

"Dhaka is a big city, setting fire on a handful number of run-out buses in isolated areas wouldn't benefit them who took it as heroism," he added.  

Harun said, "We will continue raids against people involved in violence, arson attacks and vandalism."