By Xinhua
Dhaka : Bangladesh's army-led joint forces have clamped down on politicians without giving any reasons and have arrested many senior leaders and former ministers of two past ruling parties of the country.
The joint forces in early hours of Tuesday arrested at least eight senior leaders and former ministers of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Awami League (AL) governments from Dhaka city alone, said Helaluddin, sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station in Dhaka.
AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil, was picked up by a team of the army-led joint forces from his Mercantile Bank head office in the capital Dhaka Monday afternoon. Former State Minister for Home Affairs Luthfozzaman Babar was picked from his residence here while a leading businessman and former lawmaker M.A. Hashem was arrested from his business office here.
The police officer could not confirm arrest of any other leaders from other cities or towns.
The arrest of Jalil, who had just taken initiative to reform the party and who often used to comment against corrupt persons in political parties, came as surprise to the political leaders.
AL chief Sheikh Hasina said the current interim administration is working against politics instead of against corruption.
She said people long to see a democratic environment followed by free and fair elections, but the present caretaker government are arresting political leaders.
Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said such arrest of political leaders would not bring positive result in future.
The current interim caretaker government headed by Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed began crackdown on corrupt politicians and businessmen under the state of emergency imposed on Jan 11 to clean up the slate before holding the general elections.
So far the high profile corruption suspects arrested included Tarique Rahman, elder son of immediate past Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and several other former ministers and lawmakers of the former ruling BNP and AL.