The BNP-led 20-party alliance has called a fresh 72-hour nationwide hartal from Sunday 6am, condemning the killing of opposition men in the name of crossfire, protesting mass arrests and calling for restoration of democracy and voting rights.
BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed made the announcement through a press release on Friday afternoon.
Salahuddin said the 72-hour strike from Sunday 6am to Wednesday 6am, would be staged alongside the ongoing indefinite nationwide transport blockade.
On behalf of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, he also called upon the party leaders and activists to observe the hartal peacefully.
The announcement comes after a series of hartals by the 20-party alliance throughout last couple of weeks, followed by a two-day break in hartals during the weekend.
The BNP led 20-party alliance has been enforcing a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 5 in protest against the “confinement” of the party chief Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda Zia had been kept confined to her Gulshan party office since January 3 ahead of a party rally, marking “Democracy Killing Day.”
On January 12, the security was relaxed.
But Khaleda never came out; instead she said in a press conference that she was going to stay there and the blockade would continue unless the government took the first steps towards solution.
For most of the day, the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced blockade and hartal had little impact on the lives of the people on its 46th day, aside from a few stray incidents of violence across the country.
So far, more than 75 people have died and scores have been injured in different parts of the country in violence during the BNP-led alliance enforced non-stop blockade.
Law enforcers continued a crackdown on alleged anarchists in different parts of the country.
In the capital, city dwellers experienced traffic jams on the roads, a sign of relative normalcy.
Crowds of people were seen on the streets attending to their daily tasks.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
