A double-decker burns at Jatrabari yesterday. With the opposition’s 84-hour shutdown beginning this morning, pre-hartal violence left several vehicles torched and many more vandalised across the capital. Photo: Courtesy
The BNP-led opposition alliance has extended its three-day countrywide hartal from today by 12 hours in protest at the arrest of its top leaders on Friday.
So the hartal that was called to realise the demand for a non-party interim government will now end at 6:00pm on Wednesday. This is the longest strike in a single spell during the present government’s tenure.
The strike, if further stretched, will consume the remaining one working day of the week, which is Thursday. This month has so far seen only two working days out of nine — on November 3 and November 7.
Many people, who have villlage homes nearby, were seen leaving the capital yesterday, mostly to stay away from any possible violence in the next four days.
The BNP high-ups are planning to enforce another countrywide hartal for five days from November 17 protesting what they said was the repression and wholesale arrest of opposition leaders, sources in the party told The Daily Star.
The opposition had called hartals for 120 hours in less than two weeks. The fresh shutdown came hard on the heels of the previous one amid calls from the government, business leaders and foreign diplomats to shun hartal.
Announcing the extension of the strike, BNP Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed yesterday at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office said lives and security of the opposition leaders and activists were at stake.
Rizvi, who has been staying at the office since last month to avoid arrest, also sought cooperation from journalists, human rights activists and lawyers for the safety of the opposition men.
Meanwhile, huge law enforcers were deployed around the BNP central office.
Police made arrests of BNP-Jamaat-Shibir activists all over the country. Border Guard Bangladesh was deployed on the streets of Dhaka around 7:00pm in the evening.
However, a fresh bout of violence marked the eve of the 84-hour hartal while the injured in the last 18-party imposed 60-hour shutdown are still recovering at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Another person suffering burns was admitted there yesterday evening. Mintu, 20, an office assistant, sustained 15 percent burns as hartal supporters set ablaze a bus in the capital’s Shahbagh around 6:00pm. The youth was immediately taken to the burn unit of DMCH.
Several other vehicles were torched at Panthapath, Gulistan, Jatrabari, Mohakhali, Bangabazar and Fakirapul in the capital. None, however, was reported injured.
In Jatrabari, hartal supporters set a BRTC double-decker bus on fire and exploded four home-made crude bombs around 8:45am. Police found another eight bombs at the spot, said Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Jatrabari Police Station.
A pro-hartal activist set fire to a bus of Titumir Government College at Mohakhali around 11:30am, said Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan, OC of Banani Police Station.
Students caught the miscreant when he was running away and handed him over to police. In primary interrogation, he said he had committed the offence on instructions of Mehedi, a local leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal associated with the BNP, the OC said.
In one of the incidents outside Dhaka, 20 vehicles and 50 shops were vandalised in Feni and Pabna, reported our correspondents. At least ten people were injured in clashes in Feni.
Many other districts witnessed explosions of crude bombs.
The previous two spells of shutdowns since October 27 had claimed at least 18 lives and injured scores more across the country.
Among the deceased was 14-year-old Monir, who sustained more than 95 percent burns last Monday when pickets set alight his father’s lorry. He breathed his last on Thursday after going through hellish pain for about three days.
Eight-year-old Shumi, who sustained critical burn injuries last Sunday when hartal supporters torched the bus she was travelling by, is still undergoing treatment at DMCH.
Injured Al-Amin, 20, a human haulier driver who had been burnt inside his vehicle by hartal supporters on Tuesday, lay feverish and shivering under a heap of blankets in a DMCH ward yesterday.
CNG-auto rickshaw driver Asad Gazi sustained burn injuries on the eve of last week’s hartal as pickets hurled a petrol bomb at his vehicle. Yesterday, he was shifted to the intensive care unit as his condition deteriorated.
Rokon Zaman, 30, who also sustained burn injuries while his vehicle was torched last Sunday, is recovering at DMCH. He is still unable to talk much and gasps and cries out in pain, said family sources.
Besides, three examinations each of Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) had to be rescheduled due the opposition’s fresh call of countrywide shutdown.
The exams scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will now be held on November 14, 16 and 21 respectively, announced Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at a press briefing yesterday.
On top of that, eight exams of O- and A-levels are also going to coincide with the hartal.
Apart from the students, hartal will badly hit the working class, especially those who live on daily income.
Businesspeople yesterday expressed grave concern over the yet another long spell of hartal, as they are set to incur huge loss.
“The economy will be destroyed due to the frequent shutdowns,” said Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
He said FBCCI’s initiative to bring Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia together for talks would be on. “The FBCCI members will soon meet again as part of the initiative,” he added.
In a statement, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed worry about the arrests of Abdul Awal Mintoo, former president of FBCCI and one of the leading businessmen in the country.
“DCCI thinks that such incident is unexpected and it may give rise to fear among the business community both home and abroad,” reads the statement.
Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the political leaders should realise that the ready-made garment sector was the backbone of the economy.
“So nobody should hamper the export growth of garment items,” said Islam.
Source: The Daily Star