The 48-hour nationwide hartal called by the BNP and its allies to protest the Election Commission's announcement of the polls schedule has begun at 6:00am today (November 19).
This is the second round of hartal called by the BNP since October 28. It has also enforced five rounds of blockades within the time.
The strike has also been called to put pressure on the government to step down, hand over power to a non-partisan administration, and release all BNP leaders and activists, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
The opposition camp is on simultaneous street movement at a time when the ruling Awami League is selling nomination papers in a festive mode for finalising the party candidates for the 12th parliamentary elections slated for January 7.
The Ganatantra Mancha, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Gono Odhikar Parishad, and some other parties and alliances, along with the BNP, are also staging protests in the streets.
Addressing a virtual press conference on Saturday, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called on party activists and the people of the country to make the hartal a success.
He said that the worst trade litigation and detention in history continued all over the country.
He also said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave the police a licence to carry out such an ‘arrest trade’.
‘Due to the arrest trade by the law enforcement agencies, no one can stay at the house except the Awami League leaders and activists in the villages. Many have to live without food because they have been separated from their families,’ he observed.
He demanded the immediate cancellation of the polls schedule, saying that the people of the country would resist the one-sided election with all their strengths.
He said that 310 leaders and activists of the BNP had been arrested in the past 24 hours, while over 13,000 BNP leaders and activists have been sent to jail since October 28.
Following the deadly clashes on October 28 during the BNP’s Dhaka grand rally, the opposition camp observed a one-day hartal on October 29.
Amid the blockade programme and other protests, the Election Commission announced the schedule for the next general election, fixing the polling day for January 7.
Most opposition parties, including the main opposition BNP, rejected the polls schedule, saying that holding a fair election under the existing system would not be possible.
Four buses were torched in the capital's Taltola, Gulistan, Dhanmondi, and Mirpur, and one in Cumilla; a pickup was also set on fire in Joypurhat last night, according to the fire service.
Besides, two vehicles caught fire in Chattogram city. But police could not confirm whether those were acts of arson.
In Sarishabari of Jamalpur, three carriages of Jamuna Express were set alight around 1:20am today, said the fire service.
No casualties were reported.
BDST: 0854 HRS, NOV 19, 2023
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