Jamaat\\\'s daylong nat\\\'nwide hartal begins

The nationwide daylong hartal (shutdown), called by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami protesting the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1’s verdict awarding death sentence to its leader ATM Azharul Islam for his crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, began on Wednesday morning. Jamaat acting Ameer Moqbul Ahmad on Tuesday announced dawn-to-dusk hartals for Wednesday and Thursday through a press statement shortly after the ICT had delivered the judgment. As per the party’s announcement, the shutdown began at 6am and will end at 5:30pm. The party will again enforce a daylong hartal on Thursday from 6am to 5:30pm. Ambulances, dead body-carrying vehicles and vehicles of the fire brigade and hospitals are out of the purview of the hartal programmes. Huge law enforcers remained deployed in the city to ensure the security of people and their property and fend off any untoward incident ahead of the hartal, according to a news agency.