Hartal again from today while blockade continues

FE Report | Published: February 15, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The BNP-led 20-party alliance called afresh another long spell of 72-hour nationwide shutdown from 6am Sunday while an indefinite transport blockade goes on dealing a blow to normal life and livelihood.
On the 40th day of the blockade on Saturday, there was a grim discovery -- a missing city Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal leader was found dead.
Stray incidents of violence, arson attacks and arrests of BNP-Jamaat activists across the country also marked the 40th day of blockade.
The body of Mirpur Thana Jubo Dal General Secretary Nur-e Alam was found on Saturday in Gazipur.
"Gazipur police recovered the body on Saturday noon and sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital Morgue," Shamsuddin Didar, a member of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's media wing, told reporters.
He had been missing since Tuesday.
The alliance called the fresh strike as part its movement on demand for a fresh national election under a non-party administration and 'resorting democracy and people's voting right' and in protest against government's "repressive acts".
In a press statement, BNP joint secretary-general Salahuddin Ahmed, on behalf of the alliance, announced the shutdown programme.
He said they will enforce the hartal alongside their ongoing non-stop transport blockade which passed off 40 consecutive days, considerably disrupting trade, transport, other economic activities, education and so.
The shutdown that will end at 6am Wednesday is also meant for registering the 20-party's protest against the killing of opposition activists in 'crossfire', mass arrest of 20-party men and common people, "interference" in the judiciary, control over the media, torture on journalists and 'plot to kill' BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia by stopping food supply to her office wherein she has been staying since February 15.
Earlier on Thursday, Salahuddin in another statement had threatened that the 20-party front would enforce an all-out shutdown programme and other harsher programmes together with the blockade from Sunday if the demands were not conceded.
The 20-party alliance also had enforced hartal for five consecutive days since last Sunday, forcing the authorities concerned to reschedule the Secondary Scholl Certificate (SSC) exams that fell during the hartal hours.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia announced the blockade for an indefinite period on January 5 after having failed to come out of her Gulshan office to join a planned rally of the alliance in the city to mark 'Democracy Killing Day'.
However, BNP did not bring out any procession as part of its pre-announced demonstration programme for Saturday as police held them in a tight corner.
Leaders and activists of the BNP-led alliance brought out procession in support of ongoing blockade programmes in Shahbagh, Green Road, Magbazar, Mirpur-10, Shyamoli and Daniya areas in the city.
Police locked in clashes with BNP-Jamaat activists in Babau Bazar of Old Dhaka, Tejgaon, Lalbag and Farmgate areas.
Three Chhatri Sangstha activists were arrested on Saturday afternoon on the Dhaka University campus. They are the residents of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall.
A number of cocktails exploded in Dainik Bangla crossing in the afternoon. No injury was reported.
In Magura, three Juba Dal leaders were shot as police opened fire on a procession. In retaliation, Juba Dal activists vandalized police vehicles.
The shot youth leaders of BNP are Shohor Ali, Alamgir Hossain and Farid Uddin. They were sent to Magura Sadar Hospital.
In Kishoreganj, police in a drive seized 16 Molotov cocktails from a bottle-gourd field at Char Palash village in Pakundia upazila early Saturday.
"Tipped off, a team of police conducted the drive in the area around 3.00 am and recovered 16 bombs, each consisting of a bottle filled with petrol with a piece of cloth at the end, in an abandoned condition," said Jakir Rabbani, officer-in-charge of Pakundia Police Station.
Meanwhile, miscreants set a microbus afire at Chilakara village in the same upazila early Saturday.
In Noakhali, BNP activists vandalized at least 15 vehicles in Senbag Upazila on Saturday noon as police obstructed a rally brought tout by local BNP.
Police also arrested 30 BNP-Jamaat activists in the capital, 10 in Mymensingh, two district leaders each from BNP and Jamaat in Nilphamari, district publicity secretary of Jamaat in Pabna, eight in Comilla, eight in Manikganj, 12 in Chittagong, six in Kurigram, 26 in Thakurgaon, including an upazila chairman and a vice-chairman.
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