Those who are enforcing hartals and blockades are behind today’s arson attack on a train in Tejgaon, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman has said.

“You all know that a political party is destroying lives and property in the name of hartals and blockades, and primarily police believe that the arson attack on a train in Tejgaon today is also a part of this,” he said while talking to reporters at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

“I want to say that those who called hartals and blockades are behind the arson attack on a train. Those who have committed such crimes before have been arrested and they have given such statements,” he said.

BNP says Tejgaon train burning a planned act of sabotage, demands judicial probe

Referring to Gazipur train derailment, the DMP chief said that one person died in the incident as miscreants cut off the train track. “I would say the man was killed because of this. I want to call every death caused by such acts of sabotage ‘murder’,” he added.

Police believe that those behind these incidents are part of the hartals and blockades, and certainly central decision is involved. Followers of the party are carrying out the attacks through their men, said the DMP commissioner.

After talking to a person who was injured in today’s arson attack on the train, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital, we learnt that perpetrators – in the guise of train passengers – carried out the attack.

4 including child killed as train burnt in Dhaka ahead of hartal

“According to the victim, a seat was first set on fire which soon spread and passengers started to run. Some were jumping out of the train through the windows, some through doors. As the attack was carried out at dawn, many were asleep,” said Habibur.

Replying to a question on whether the attackers were following orders of any leader abroad as many leaders are in jail, the DMP chief said, “Those who are calling hartals, carrying out arson attacks and sabotage, they are doing these as per the order of their leader living abroad through his local agents. It’s clear as daylight.”

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Responding to another query, Habibur said necessary steps will be taken to ensure deployment of law enforcers in each train compartment to avert such incidents.

Railway authorities have taken an initiative to deploy law enforcers on train, the DMP chief said.