A BNP lawmaker resigned after being linked to the demolition of Mirpur's Radda health centre. The attack on the long-running charity clinic has intensified scrutiny of law and order in Bangladesh.

A Bangladeshi lawmaker resigned on Thursday after allegations linked her to the demolition of a popular non-profit healthcare centre that had been operating for more than five decades. The centre, Radda MCH-FP Centre, provided healthcare services to low-income and disadvantaged people.

Parliament officials said Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lawmaker Ferdousy Ahmed Mishti's resignation had been accepted, leaving her reserved women's seat in Dhaka vacant. The parliamentary secretariat has asked the Election Commission to take the required steps to fill the seat.

Officials said Mishti submitted her resignation after meeting Parliament Speaker Hafizuddin Ahmed, following instructions from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Mishti was also the joint convener of the Dhaka North unit of the BNP, which was dissolved on Wednesday, six days after masked miscreants allegedly demolished the Mirpur centre in a midnight attack.

The attackers put up a banner in the name of "Sammona Dokandar Samabaya Samiti", or like-minded shop owners' cooperative society, after removing the centre's signboard. Home Minister Salahuddiin Ahmed said Mishti's name had appeared in an intelligence report, though she had earlier denied responsibility for the attack. Doctors and clinic workers resumed limited services after a brief pause, even as the building had been reduced to rubble.

The attack came amid wider concern over vandalism, looting and mob violence. "With the patronage of a member of parliament from a reserved seat, and in police presence, a charitable institution that provided healthcare to poor and helpless mothers and children for half a century has been destroyed," said Iftekharuzzaman, director of Transparency International's Bangladesh chapter. He added that the incident took place in front of hundreds of helpless people and asked "what kind of example is the ruling party setting".

Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Nazneen Ahmed said rising criminal activities in society were also hurting the economy and business. Police, however, said media reports of increased extortion, land grabbing and mugging were "exaggerated". The home minister told reporters on Thursday that the government would intensify coordinated drives by police and other law enforcement agencies, including the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh, against extortion, drug trading and other crimes.

Asked whether the planned operations would be similar to the controversial army-led "Operation Clean Heart" launched by the previous BNP government in 2003-2004, the home minister said no such decision had been taken yet. Official records show that nearly 60 people died in custody during the 85-day drive. While the government had said many of them died of "heart failure", family members and rights groups alleged that they were tortured to death.

The resignation of Mishti, the vacancy in Parliament, and the government's planned anti-crime operations have followed the demolition of the Mirpur health centre, an incident that has drawn criticism from civic groups and fresh scrutiny of law and order in Bangladesh.