Dhaka: Routine life in Bangladesh came to a halt on Monday as Islamic parties called a strike against a proposed law favouring female equality.
The parties, known as the Islamic Law Implementation Committee, called the strike to protest against the government’s move to pass laws ensuring equal property and inheritance rights for women in the Muslim-majority country.
Most shops, businesses and schools in Dhaka were shut and major roads in and around the capital were almost deserted.
Around 10,000 police had been deployed in the capital while Riot police were also patrolling in the capital to avert any untoward incident.
Wearing skullcaps, several hundred students of Islamic schools or madrassas marched through Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area, chanting slogans against the planned policy.
On Sunday a seminary student was killed in the southwestern city of Jessore after police opened fire on 500 protesters, who were demanding the government backtrack on the policy.
At least a dozen others including six police officers were injured in Sunday’s violence, police said, adding three officers were in serious condition after being attacked with bamboo sticks.
Small Islamic groups led by firebrand cleric and ex-lawmaker Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini have been staging sporadic protests since the government announced its plan on March 7, arguing that it goes against the Quran.
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