Jamaat\\\'s hartal ends, BNP\\\'s begins

Right after the end of Jamaat-e-Islami's twin-hartal, a daylong nationwide shutdown, called by BNP-led 20-party alliance, began at 6:00am on Monday. BNP’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the 20-party’s 24-hour general strike at a press briefing at BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office on Saturday. This is the first hartal being enforced across the country by the 20-party combine after the January-5 parliamentary elections, boycotted by the BNP. Parliament on September 17 passed the much-talked-about ‘Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill, 2014’ without any opposition, paving the path for establishing its power to remove Supreme Court judges. The BNP-led alliance has called the lockdown opposing the move. Meanwhile, BNP Joint Secretary General M Shahjahan on Sunday urged the government to allow them to peacefully observe their 6am to 6am hartal today without provoking them, according to a news agency.