The BNP-led 18-party alliance on Saturday called another round of three-day non-stop countrywide hartal which will be in force from Monday to press for their demands, including restoration of non-party caretaker government for overseeing the next general elections.
The announcement of the fresh agitation programme was made by BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to the media on Saturday.
Briefing the reporters on the 18 opposition parties’ decision to convert its three-day blockade into a 60-hour non-stop shutdown, the BNP leader said they were compelled to announce tougher in their on-going movement as the government going ahead to hold a lopsided national election ignoring the demand of the people.
He said the three-day nationwide general strike will start from 6:00am on Monday and end at 6pm on Wednesday.
The 18-party combine declared the new round of hartal instead of the blockade of the cities, including Dhaka, after a secretary-general level meeting of the opposition alliance at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s office at Gulshan in the capital.
On October 29, the BNP decided to go for a three-day blockade of roads, rail and waterways from Monday to force the government to concede its key demand that led to the current political deadlock between the two major political camps in the country.
The vehicles belonging to the media, hajj pilgrims and urgent service providing organisations, however, would be kept out of the hartal purview, Mirza Alamgir declared during the media briefing after the secretary-general level meeting held at the same venue around 11:20am today.
The opposition combine decided to enforce the shutdown to main protest what the BNP acting secretary general termed “the government’s plan to cling on to power by holding a one-sided election”.
The government does not want a consensus though it invited opposition leader Khaleda Zia for a dialogue, Mirza Alamgir alleged.
Earlier, the opposition alliance observed another 60-hour non-stop nationwide shutdown from 6am on October 27 demanding a dialogue on the same issue. At least 22 people were killed, many by bullets as police opened fire on the demonstrators during the opposition’s lockdown which ended at 6pm on October 29.
