BNP calls nat\\\'nwide hartal for Monday

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) backed by its partners has called a nationwide hartal (shutdown) for Monday protesting against denial of permission for its Gazipur rally and demanding the release of its leaders including Gayeshwar Chandra Roy. Party’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the daylong shutdown programme on Saturday after an emergency meeting of the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s secretaries general in Dhaka. The BNP enforced a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Gazipur on Saturday after the local administration banned gatherings in and around Bhawal Barde Alam Government College grounds where party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was proposed to attend a public rally and address it on Saturday afternoon. The meeting of the secretaries general of the 20-party combine was held at BNP chief’s Gulshan office in the afternoon. The hartal that will begin at 6am and end at 6pm is also meant for registering protest against the arrest of all the leaders and activists of the coalition and demanding their release, according to a news agency.