The BNP is in a dilemma regarding whether to carry on with or relax the ongoing indefinite blockade for the upcoming Ijtema because the party now believes that its movement has gained quite a bit of momentum.
Then again, there are also fears that if Ijtema – the second biggest global religious congregation of the Muslims – gets hampered because of political programmes, the party will have to pay for it.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has already been living in virtual confinement at her Gulshan office since Saturday evening. Yesterday, the party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was arrested in the capital in connection with several cases.
By yesterday, most senior leaders of the party have gone into hiding either to avoid police harassment or to sway away from getting tangled in fresh lawsuits.
On Monday, Khaleda Zia announced the indefinite countrywide rail, road and waterways blockade after she was barred from coming out of her Gulshan residence to take part in a rally at Nayapaltan for which they never got the permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
Both ruling Awami League and the BNP wanted to hold their respective political programmes in the city on Monday; instead of allowing either of the two, the DMP responded with a ban on rallies and processions.
Seeking anonymity, a senior leader said that considering the confinement of Khaleda Zia and the arrest of Mirza Fakhrul, they cannot relax the grip; they are choosing the risky option of continuing their protest programmes during the Ijtema.
The plan is to keep the Ijtema and vehicles carrying devotees out of the blockade’s purview, he said.
“We do not have any other option but to go ahead [with our programmes]. Had the government not compelled us, we would not have needed to call such programmes,” the leader told the Dhaka Tribune.
“There is no reason to think that the BNP is not aware of the sensitivity associated with the Ijtema. Then again, the BNP’s stance regarding religion is also very clear to all. So, we do not think anyone will be able to cash in on it [if we continue our programme during Ijtema]. The Awami League itself has enforced hartal during Ijtema in the past,” said another senior leader.
At a party forum a few months ago, Khaleda Zia reportedly admitted that her party’s strategy of relaxing movement after the January 5 election was a mistake.
In 2010, Khaleda Zia was evicted from her cantonment residence in the capital days before an Eid. The BNP enforced a hartal in protest, causing trouble to hundreds of thousands of people leaving Dhaka before the festival for their village homes.
The former premier did not make any attempt to come out of her office yesterday.
In the meantime, a delegation of Tablig-e-Jamaat – the organisers of Ijtema – went to the Gulshan office to invite Khaleda; but, no discussion about withdrawing blockade took place.
The three member delegation, led by Abdur Rahim, talked to Khaleda’s special assistant Shamshur Rahman Shimul Biswas, her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, and some others.
Rahim later told reporters that they had invited Khaleda to join the Ijtema.
According to sources, BNP leaders told the Ijtema delegation that Khaleda Zia fell ill after getting hit by police’s pepper spray on Monday and so she could not talk. The BNP leaders advised the Ijtema delegates to talk to the government; if the government created a normal situation, then any hartal or blockade will not be needed.
Later, another Ijtema delegation led by Iftekhar Ahmed went to meet the BNP chief but police did not allow them to enter the office.
BNP leaders told the Dhaka Tribune that any sort of gap in the middle of the ongoing movement will create pressure on the leaders and activists; the government will take advantage of the gap and intensify police action. That, they said will hurt the movement’s momentum and so they have advised their chief to continue the blockade.
Other sources said Khaleda had been advised by some senior leaders to call a rally for December 8.
“The government will then cut the city off from the rest of the country and have to take the blame for public sufferings ahead of and during Ijtema,” said a source.
Later in the day, former Dhaka and Rajshahi University vice-chancellors Prof Emajuddin Ahmed and Prof Syed Rashidul Hossain went to meet Khaleda.
Although sand-laden trucks were removed from the areas adjacent to Khaleda’s office in Gulshan, police trucks and vans remained in their positions. The main gate of the office is still under lock and key.
Just like the last few days, BNP’s Nayapaltan office remained locked yesterday as well and nobody was seen around.
In the afternoon, party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who took shelter in the National Press Club, was arrested by detectives after he came out.
Condemning the arrest and demanding his release, Khaleda in a press statement alleged that it has been an arrest bonanza for the government.
“Confining me to my office and arresting the acting secretary general and in the same way running drives across the country...Not only the opposition leaders and activists but the common people are passing their days in fear. As the ruling party does not have the slightest of public support, it has strengthened repression using the law enforcers and state machineries,” Khaleda said in the statement.
Her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told journalists: “On Monday, police sprayed pepper in the presence of Khaleda Zia. She has not been feeling well since then. She is having severe respiratory problems, coughs and headache and vomited twice. She is now being treated with nebulisers.”
Only those reporters who were inside the Gulshan office were allowed by police to join the press briefing.