Indefinite curfew imposed in Dhaka to quell student protest

Dhaka, Aug 22 (UNI) Bangladesh military-backed government declared an indefinite curfew here and in five other divisional headquarters from tonight to quell escalating student unrest.

The students protested the 'military beating' of Dhaka University students on Monday and demanded apology from Army Chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed for the incident. They also demanded withdrawal of state of emergency imposed on January 11.

A person was killed and about 600 injured, mostly students and police, in three days' violence here and in other major cities.

The demonstrators damaged and burned down dozens of buses and cars, ransacked police boxes and disrupted road communications by staging sit-in on different highways.

A house of Education Advisor Dr Ayub Qadri and business office of Power and Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury of the caretaker government came under attacks.

The government has also shut down sine die all the universities and colleges in six divisional cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal.

The students have been asked to vacate their respective dormitories by tonight.

Earlier, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed chaired a high-level emergency meeting at his office this afternoon to review the overall situation.

General Moeen U Ahmed and the heads of different forces and agencies attended the meeting.

Law and Information Advisor Mainul Husein said the curfew was imposed to maintain peace and protect public life and property.

''If this unlawful act continues, the government will be compelled to take stern action against the perpetrators for bringing back normalcy and protecting life and property of the citizens,'' an official handout said.

It said in accordance with the demand of Dhaka University students, the Army camp at the campus playground has already been withdrawn and initiative has been taken to form a judicial inquiry committee headed by a retired High Court judge to investigate the untoward incidents.

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