The hartal that began at 6am and ended 2:50pm nearly three hours before its end as per the schedule evoked very poor response across the country.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday afternoon withdrew its countrywide 12-hour hartal after the High Court turned down a writ petition challenging the legality of Islam’s status in the constitution as a state religion.
Unlike in the past, activists of Jamaat and its student body Islami Chhatra Shibir brought out some sudden processions in the capital in support of the shutdown in some areas like Rampura, Malibagh Mugdha, Jatrabari, Demra, Mirpur, Adabar and Sabujbagh.
There was a moderate traffic on city streets instead of the heavy rush until afternoon as most private car and small vehicles owners opted to keep their vesicles parked fearing vandalism by Jamaat and Shibir men.
The city life was quite normal as a large number of law enforcers guarded the city streets to avert any untoward incident.
Like elsewhere of the country, the premier port city experienced a laucklustre hartal yesterday as no untoward incident was taken place, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
Sources at Chittagong Metropolitan Police said around 1,500 additional policemen were deployed in the city while 1,000 policemen in the district as a precaution to avert any untoward incident.
The activists and leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were not also seen to bring out any procession in support of the shutdown.
Debdas Bhattacharya, CMP Additional Commissioner, said no untoward incident was reported in the city during the hartal.
Local sources said a good number of public transport as well as private vehicles were seen plying the city streets while the public buses and heavy vehicles on the long-distance routes plied during the shutdown.
However, the academic activities in the city’s educational institutes remained suspended.
Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) authority sources said that operational activities inside the CEPZ went on in full-swing and attendance of the workers was normal.
Chittagong Railway station sources said no disruption to rail communication was reported. Besides, the hartal did not affect the domestic and international flights at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport, Bangladesh Biman sources said.
Operational activities, including loading and unloading of cargoes at ships inside Chittagong Port and outer anchorage, went on in full-swing.