Chhatra Sena\\\'s hartal passing off lackadaisically

The nationwide 8-hour hartal, called for Sunday by Islami Chhatra Sena demanding arrest and punishment of the killers of Islami Front leader Maulana Nurul Islam Farooqi, is progressing in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country in a lax mood. No major untoward incident is reported. All sorts of transports, including buses, oil tankers, covered vans, private cars and CNG-run auto-rickshaws, have been plying in the streets of the capital and other cities and towns and also the highways since early in the morning ignoring the 6am to 2pm shutdown being enforced by Islami Chhatra Sena, the student affiliate of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat and Bangladesh Islami Front of which the slain Islamic scholar was a leader. Chhatra Sena activists had been taking out small pro-hartal processions from in front of its city office since morning and they ran off the streets in the face of police obstructions at Fakirapool, Motijheel, Dainik Bangla and Paltan intersections. Traffic in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur cities and Tongi and Savar towns is almost normal and long-route vehicles have left Gabtoli, Sayedabad and Mohakhali terminals for their respective destinations in the morning during the hartal hours. Waterway, train and air services and the activities in the seaports at Chittagong, Mongla and Cox’s Bazar are also normal. All government offices and almost all private offices and educational institutes have opened in the morning with attendances being normal, according to private TV channels.