BNP shifts protest programme from Mon to Tue

The main opposition BNP has rescheduled its countrywide protest programmes, shifting it from Monday to Tuesday due to “unavoidable circumstances”, according to a statement issued by the party on Sunday.

The statement, signed by the party’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, said their programme to lay seize on all the DC offices across the country in protest against the hike in prices of essential commodities including fuel oil, and demanding the restoration of caretaker government system to oversee the next general election would be held on Tuesday Feb 19 instead of Feb 18 as previously announced.

Although the BNP hasn’t openly extended its support for the strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami on Monday, the rescheduling of its protest programme is being seen as a way of accommodating a key ally of the opposition 18-party alliance.

Jamaat called Monday’s shutdown in protest of against the deaths of its ‘activists’ in Cox’s Bazar on Friday.

The protesters at Shahbag, demanding capital punishment for all war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, have urged the people to “reject and resist” the strike called by the Islamist party.

Two associations of traders and transport owners have decided to function as normal on Monday.

Source: bdnews24