The BNP-led 20-party alliance has again called a fresh 72-hour nationwide hartal from Sunday 6am protesting killing of opposition members in the name of crossfire, mass arrests and demanding a snap poll.
BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed made the announcement through a press release yesterday afternoon.
He said the 72-hour strike from Sunday 6am to Wednesday 6am would be enforced on top of the ongoing indefinite nationwide transport blockade.
On behalf of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia he also called upon party leaders and activists to observe the hartal peacefully.
The BNP-led 20-party alliance has been enforcing a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 6, in protest against what it said was the confinement of their party chief Khaleda Zia at her political office in the capital’s Gulshan area.
Khaleda has been staying at her Gulshan party office since January 3, ahead of a party rally that was scheduled to be held to mark the Democracy Killing Day. On January 12, the security was relaxed in front of the Gulshan office.
But Khaleda never came out; instead, she said in a press conference that she was going to stay there and the blockade would continue unless the government took the first step towards a solution.
For most of the day, the blockade and hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance had little impact on the lives of the people on its 46th day except in a few stray incidents of violence across the country.
So far, more than 75 people have died and scores of others injured in different parts of the country during the non-stop blockade.
Meanwhile, law enforcers continued to carry out their crackdown on alleged anarchists and pickets throughout the country.