Once again “confined” and barred from joining a rally of the 20-party alliance, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday announced a countrywide indefinite blockade of road, rail and waterways.
“The programme will continue until further notice. We will set the next course of action after the situation calms down. I will ask the 20-party alliance leaders and activists to carry on with the movement until our demand is fulfilled,” she said.
The BNP chief made the announcement in an unscheduled media briefing in front of her Gulshan office yesterday afternoon.
By then, she had already spent nearly 48 hours inside the office; BNP leaders alleged that she had been placed in “confinement.”
At least 11 sand and bricks-laden trucks, several platoons of law enforcers and several police vans have been stationed outside the BNP chief’s office. She was barred from coming out at least twice – once late on Saturday night, and then again yesterday afternoon. Police said the beefed up measures were part of a strategy to ensure security for the BNP chairperson; but they refused to describe the strategy in detail. The BNP repeatedly asked why police needed to lock the main gate and station sand and bricks-laden trucks in the area if they were really there to ensure security.
Journalists were not allowed to enter the office premises and a lock was put on the main gate yesterday afternoon.
Wearing a cream-coloured saree, Khaleda Zia came down and got into her white Nissan Petrol around 3:20pm, in an attempt to go to the BNP’s Nayapaltan office to attend a rally there.
Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) banned all kinds of processions and gatherings in the city after both ruling Awami League and the BNP-led 20-party alliance sought permission to hold programmes yesterday.
The BNP wanted to observe January 5 as “Democracy Killing Day;” for the Awami League, it was the “Victory Day of Democracy.”
When Khaleda was barred from coming out, Abdul Kayeum, a former inspector general of police, and Shamshur Rahman Shimul Biswas, her special assistant, talked to police; but their calls to let her out were not heeded.
Biswas then accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal of lying. Both the PM and the junior minister had said Khaleda had not been confined; she could go home if she wanted.
Aggrieved BNP leaders, especially those from the women’s front Mohila Dal, began chanting anti-government slogans inside the office compound. When they started hitting the gate, police used pepper spray to disperse them. Several journalists and BNP leaders were injured by the pepper.
The BNP chief told journalists: “Not just me, the entire country is confined.” She said she did not know the reason behind the confinement.
She said: “The government has imposed section 144 to thwart our peaceful protest rally and black flag procession; but it would not be possible to stop our movement by doing so...The blockade programme will continue across the country until further notice. I am calling upon the people to carry on with the protest. We should be allowed to hold rallies.
“They [government] said they have not confined me. Then why is the gate locked? Why am I being barred from going out? If I have not been confined then why are people not allowed to meet me?”
Khaleda said everybody knew why she was confined and why they were not allowed to hold a rally to mark Democracy Killing Day.
“The government did not provide any security when it was needed. When we wanted to hold rally, they blocked it in the name of providing security. What type of security is this?”
At one point, addressing the police personnel, Khaleda said: “Why brothers? Why are you spraying gas? I am just talking. Will you not allow me to even speak out?”
She alleged that the government’s agents have infiltrated the police force; only people from a certain district were recruited. She told the police personnel: “Do not cross the limit; it will not last forever. You will have to suffer for this.”
Khaleda said the government was scared of the people and that was why the BNP was not allowed to hold the programme. “If I join the rally, then people from different walks of life will join. This illegal government is scared of confronting people because they have lost the ground beneath their feet.”
She once again called upon the government to initiate talks to create an atmosphere to hold a free, fair and credible election.
As of 1:30am, the sand and brick-laden trucks had been removed and the security cordon around her office was somewhat eased. But police vehicles and personnel remained in front of the office gate.