BNP-enforced hartal observed in Kurigram, Noakhali

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KURIGRAM, Mar 14 (UNB): The half-day hartal called by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) protesting the arrest of its leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed passed off peacefully in the district today (Thursday). Kurigram district BNP unit called the shutdown protesting the arrest of the party's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, who hails from the district, during a raid at party central office at Nayapaltan on Monday. Sources said the BNP activists brought out procession in support of the hartal from the party office at Ghoshpara of the district town in the morning. Police obstructed them when they reached Dadamore area. During hartal, educational institutions, business establishments remained closed and long-route buses did not leave the district. On the other hand, Kurigram Jatiyatabadi Lawyers' Forum, a pro-BNP organisation, brought out a procession in support of the hartal and held a rally on the court premises after parading different roads of the town. Speakers at the meeting threatened that they would declare tougher programme if Rizvi is not freed by March 20. Earlier on Monday, police raided the BNP central office in the capital at the end of a rally of the BNP-led 18-party alliance and arrested 185 of its leaders and workers, including party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed. Later, two Dhaka courts on Tuesday sent Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Amanullah Aman and opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Farroque and 151 other leaders and activists of the 18-party alliance to jail in two cases. Another report adds from Noakhali: The daylong hartal, enforced by the local unit of BNP protesting the arrests of BNP joint secretary general Mohammad Shahjahan and opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Farroque, was observed almost peacefully in the district on Thursday. Other local allies of BNP-led 18 party alliance also extended their support to the shutdown. There was no major untoward incident during the hartal called to protest the arrests of Mohammad Shahjahan and Zainul Abedin Farroque, who hailed from different areas of the district. Hartal supporters blocked roads and burned tyres at different points of the district. Almost all modes of vehicles except rickshaws stayed off the roads.