FBCCI wants withdrawal of today's hartal

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The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) on Saturday urged the opposition to withdraw Sunday's dawn-to-dusk hartal called in protest against, what the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) alleged, 'eviction' of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia from her cantonment residence.
"We're urging the opposition leader to withdraw Sunday's hartal considering the suffering of the people and losses of business," the President of the FBCCI, A. K. Azad told the reporters at a hurriedly called press conference on the day.
"It (hartal programme) badly affects the production at garment factories and other industries," the FBCCI president said.
In a separate press conference, the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged the opposition leader to keep the garment factories outside the purview of Sunday's hartal programme.
"We call upon the main opposition party to keep garment industries outside the hartal programme, considering it as the prime export sector of the country," Abdus Salam Murshedy, BGMEA president, told the reporters at the BGMEA office.
The BGMEA chief said the owners of the apparel sector are concerned over the hartal programme.
Meanwhile, the FBCCI president, A. K. Azad said the hartal programme will cause immense suffering to the business people saying: "It will affect the payment of bonuses and salaries to the workers."
He said the hartal programme has been called at a time when Turkish the prime minister is visiting the country.
"The bilateral trade with Turkey is now close to US$ 1.0 billion. It will grow upto US$5.0 billion by the next five years. But the strike will create a bad image of the country."
The FBCCI chief said the hartal programme will affect the country's external trade to a great extent as the handling of export and import cargoes will be affected by the hartal programme.