The countrywide daylong hartal, for the fourth consecutive day, enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami, passed without any major incidence of violence across the country Thursday.
In the capital, vehicular movement on the streets was almost normal but no long-route buses left or entered the city. CNG autorichshaws, rickshaws and buses plied the streets. There were more private cars than the previous hartal days.
Shops and shopping malls were open and the presence of customers had increased. New Market and the markets in Farm gate, Kawranbazar and Gulistan area were filled with customers.
Jamaat supporters brought out a procession in the city’s Dhalpur area at around 8.45am and set fire to a passenger bus. They also exploded four crude bombs before leaving the spot. On information, a fire service unit rushed in and brought the blaze under control.
Law enforcers patrolled major locations in the capital to fend off any possible trouble by hartal supporters. Plainclothes police were also deployed at different strategic points of the city.
Our Narayanganj correspondent reports that Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out a procession at Kashipur in Fatulla around 5.30am. They blockaded the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Munsiganj highway, setting fire to scrap clothes at Hatkhola point and also torched a covered van and vandalised at least four autorickshaws, said Akter Hossain, officer-in-charge of Fatulla Police Station.
Our Gazipur correspondent reports that the hartal passed off peacefully in the district. A case was filed with Joydebpur police station against 25 unidentified Jamaat-Shibir activists over the arson on Additional Deputy Commissioner’s vehicle in Wednesday’s hartal.
Our Barisal Correspondent reports: picketers of Jamat-Shibir blocked roads, blasted crude bombs in front of the BM School and in Nathullabad around 5am. They also vandalised two vehicles, said Ataur Rahman, Officer-in-charge of Kawnia police station.
Big shops and showrooms were closed but financial institutions were open with their front doors closed. Police and members of other law enforcement agencies were deployed at key points and patrolled on the city roads.
Our Chittagong Correspondent reports: pickets torched two human haulers and a poultry van in Chaktai area in the morning.
At that time they also vandalised three human haulers and two buses in the area, said Banaj Kumar Majumder, additional police commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police. Hartal supporters also blasted at least 10 crude bombs at different points in the city to create panic among people, he added.
Train movement was undisrupted but no buses plied on the inter-district routes. Most of the shopping malls in Chittagong remained closed during the hartal hours. Activities of the Chittagong Port were carried out as usual.
Our Satkhira correspondent reports that Jamaat-Shibir activists created a blockade on the Satkhira-Kaliganj road by the felling of electric poles and blasted 15 crude bombs in different areas across the district. On information, the police rushed in and removed the blockade, said Sahajahan Ali Khan, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station.
Jamaat acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan in a statement on Wednesday called the hartal in protest of the death penalty of its Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed. The International Crimes Tribunal 2 on Wednesday handed down capital punishment to Mujaheed for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
