20-party’s fresh 72-hr hartal gets underway

Another spell of 72-hour nationwide hartal, enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance alongside its ongoing countrywide indefinite transport blockade, began Sunday without any major incidents, as of writing of this report at 9:30am, reports United News of Bangladesh. The alliance called the shutdown as part of its movement demanding a national election under a non-party administration and ‘resorting democracy and people’s voting right’ and protesting what it said the ‘government’s repressive acts.’ The shutdown that began at 6:00am on Sunday will end at 6:00am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the SSC and its equivalent examinations scheduled for Sunday (February 15) have been shifted to February 20. No procession or picketing was seen in support of the hartal in the city. The city traffic was almost normal with less number of private cars plying on the streets. A large number of law enforcers remained deployed in different parts of the capital to fend off any trouble. BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed, on behalf of the alliance, announced the shutdown programme on Friday. The hartal is also meant for registering the 20-party’s protest against killing of many opposition activists in so-called cross-fires, mass arrest of the 20-party men and common people, interfering with the judiciary, influencing the media, torturing journalists and the conspiring to kill BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia by stopping food supply to her office where she has been staying since January 5.

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