Operation Devil Hunt: How Bangladesh Is Hunting Sheikh Hasina Loyalists

The safety forces in Bangladesh have arrested as many as 1,308 people from throughout the nation as a part of the continuing “Operation Devil Hunt” launched to curb nationwide incidents of mob assaults and vandalism. The operation was launched by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-led interim authorities on Saturday after pupil activists had been injured in Gazipur final week throughout vandalism at a former Awami League Minister’s house.

The joint operation involving the military, police and specialised models arrested a minimum of 274 individuals from metropolitan areas, and one other 1,034 from different components of the nation, Bangladeshi publication The Enterprise Commonplace quoted Enamul Haque Sagar, assistant inspector normal (media and PR) on the Police Headquarters as saying.

The individuals arrested below the specialised operation had been largely members of the Awami League and its affiliate organisations, in accordance with a report by The Day by day Star.

In Gazipur, 81 leaders and activists of Awami League and its affiliated organisations had been arrested, whereas in Cumilla, three individuals related to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s occasion had been taken in custody by police. Joint forces additionally reportedly detained seven Awami League leaders, together with a union parishad chairman, throughout separate drives at varied areas in Noakhali’s Hatia upazila.

About Operation Devil Hunt?

The Yunus-led interim authorities began a particular drive named ‘Operation Devil Hunt’ on Saturday with an goal to curb unrest and guarantee public security throughout the nation. A authorities assertion stated the operation started after gangs “linked to the fallen autocratic regime attacked a bunch of scholars, leaving them severely injured”.

Talking in regards to the particular drive, Dwelling Adviser Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury stated it is going to proceed till all “devils” are uncovered to justice and “not a single satan ought to be ignored”.

The Dwelling Adviser harassed the operation will proceed focusing on those that try to destabilise the nation, disobeying the legislation as anarchists. “A lot of those that attacked the scholars and the general public in Gazipur have been delivered to guide. The remainder will quickly be uncovered to justice,” he stated on Saturday. 

Afterward Sunday, Senior Secretary of the Dwelling Ministry Nasimul Ghani stated the operation will proceed so long as essential. “Our goal is to neutralise the pockets from the place makes an attempt are being made to destabilise the nation,” he stated.

As a part of the operation, the federal government has established a command centre on the Police Headquarters below the Ministry of Dwelling Affairs from the place representatives of all forces are monitoring the nation’s legislation and order scenario.

The sweeping safety operations come after days of unrest.

On Wednesday, six months to the day since Hasina fled as crowds attacked her palace in Dhaka, protesters smashed down buildings linked to her household utilizing excavators. Protests had been triggered in response to reviews that 77-year-old Hasina — who has defied an arrest warrant to face trial crimes in opposition to humanity — would seem in a Fb broadcast from exile in neighbouring India.

Buildings destroyed included the museum and former house of Hasina’s late father, Bangladesh’s first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The interim authorities blamed Hasina for the violence.

On Friday, interim chief and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus additionally pleaded for calm. “Respecting the rule of legislation is what differentiates the brand new Bangladesh we’re working collectively to construct, from the outdated Bangladesh below the fascist regime,” Yunus stated in a press release.

“For the residents who rose up and overthrew the Hasina regime … it’s crucial to show to ourselves and our pals world wide that our dedication to our ideas — respecting each other’s civil and human rights and appearing below the legislation — is unshakable.”