Apart from a routine press briefing by the acting secretary general at the end of the day, no senior leader of the main opposition BNP or its allies turned up on the streets during the 60-hour hartal that ended last evening.
The previous spell of 60-hour hartal on October 27-29 was no different.
But this has not stopped the 18-party opposition alliance from mulling over another spell of countrywide hartal next week to further press home their demand for the upcoming polls to be held under a non-partisan government.
The BNP-led alliance is also contemplating a rail-road blockade to cut off the capital from the rest of the country but they want to use this weapon after the announcement of the election schedule, not now, said senior leaders of the BNP.
They said they would wait until the “last moment” to reach an understanding on the neutral polls-time administration.
The party’s standing committee will sit tonight in a meeting with party chief Khaleda Zia in the chair to discuss next course of action after the end of two spells of 60-hartal in two successive weeks.
The BNP will hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan today to mark the National Revolution and Solidarity Day, where the senior leaders will address the rally.
Party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the movement would be intensified day by day if the government did not pay heed to their demand.
A senior leader seeking not to be named told the Dhaka Tribune that they might go for a rail-water road blockade.
“If we go for blockade programme we will avoid road blockade,” he said but did not explain the reason
behind not blocking the road communication.
“We will launch a vigorous street campaign to force the government to realise the demands,” Sadeque Hossain Khoka, convener of Dhaka city unit BNP, told a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday.
However, neither Khoka nor any other senior leaders and stalwarts were seen on the streets especially in the capital during the two successive 60-hour countrywide shutdowns.
“We cannot stand for a minute on the street as the law enforcers open fire on us. How can we bring out a procession,” Abdus Salam, member secretary of Dhaka city unit BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune.
After observing 60 hours of hartal, Fakhrul at a press briefing alleged the government was playing “hide- and-seek” with the opposition.
“Election commission is yet to announce the election schedule. The government has not yet adopted a clear stance on the duration of the parliament session and the formation of the polls time government.”
Dialogue
Party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday told reporters: “We have not yet received a response of the letter sent to Syed Ashraful Islam but we hope the government will respond soon. We will wait until the last moment.”
He referred to the letter BNP sent to Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on October 22.
The BNP acting secretary general was speaking to journalists at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters in the morning on the last day of the opposition’s 60-hour hartal.
About the allegations that BNP having a close tie with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was involved in the BDR Pilkhana killing, Fakhrul shrugged it off saying that these were “deliberate propaganda to divert people’s attention from the ongoing anti-government campaign.”
Blaming other political parties for their ties with foreign countries he said: “BNP has no foreign masters; it is a cooked-up story.”
The BNP leader said people were spontaneously participating in the shutdown for caretaker government.
