Roundup: Bangladesh tightens security for New Year's eve

Authorities in Bangladesh have tightened security in capital Dhaka for New Year's eve in the wake of a rising tide of militancy.

Thousands of Bangladeshi police and anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have been deployed in capital Dhaka to maintain law and order.

The Bangladeshi government has imposed a ban on all outdoor programs and gatherings "on security grounds."

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah said all forms of gathering and celebrations outdoors have been prohibited from dusk on Dec. 31.

He said all posh areas of the capital city have been brought under a security blanket with the deployment of a large number of law-enforcers.

Dhaka dwellers have been encouraged to celebrate the New Year occasions indoors.

Residents of Dhaka's posh areas have been advised to return home by 8:00 p.m. (local time).

Not merely that students of universities in capital Dhaka would be under tight vigilance, they have specially been instructed to stay inside at night.

All the bars have been instructed to close before 6:00 p.m. (local time) on Dec. 31 while hotel authorities have been asked to serve liquors merely to their foreign guests.

Fireworks have been prohibited.

Against this backdrop, Bangladesh's Civil Aviation and Tourism Affairs Ministry cancelled planned fireworks on Cox's Bazar beach that evening.

Except regular deployment of police personnel, Miah told journalists that additional law enforcers have already been deployed at different strategic points to avert any untoward incident.

No incidents of indiscipline, including reckless driving and dancing on Dhaka's streets, would be tolerated on Dec. 31 night, the DMP commissioner said, adding that if any drunk driver would be found on the street he or she would be arrested along with the vehicle.

He said that they will set up scores of check posts in all strategic points in Dhaka to check unruly mob.

Striking force and mobile teams will patrol the sensitive Dhaka areas round-the-clock.

Dog squads and Bomb Disposal Unit of the RAB will also be deployed in Dhaka during the time.

Unprecedented security measures have reportedly been taken in other major towns and cities including seaport city Chittagong, some 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka.

Sources said the stringent measures come amid threat of an increase in militancy.

Last week a bomb attack on worshipers at a mosque of Ahmadiyya Muslim community in a western Bangladeshi district killed at least one people and wounded three more.

Bangladeshi law enforcers also last week conducted a raid on a hideout of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and arrested seven suspected militants with huge explosives and grenades in capital Dhaka. Endit