Jamaat-e-Islami is set to observe 24-hour countrywide strike today protesting the Appellate Division’s verdict that gave Jamaat’s top leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee imprisonment until death.
The strike begins at 6am today.
Jamaat’s acting Ameer Mokbul Ahmed and its acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman, in a joint statement, declared the strike, immediately after the verdict was pronounced on Wednesday.
Supporting the Jamaat’s strike, activists of Jamaat and its student wing Chhatra Shibir yesterday brought out a procession at 2pm in the city’s Rayerbagh area creating panic among the locals. The Jamaat-Shibir men held the procession for around 10 minutes and created fire on the road by using fuels.
On the other hand, the BNP-led 20-party alliance has called for a dawn-to-dusk nationwide strike tomorrow protesting the 16th amendment of the constitution that empowers the parliament to impeach judges.
The announcement was made by the BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at party’s Gulshan office yesterday. The much-talked-about 16th amendment drew wide criticism from the opposition and other civil society groups who cited it would hurt the independence of judges, hence hamper the rule of law.
Earlier on September 17, the parliament got back the power to impeach judges through passing the 16th amendment bill in the third session of the tenth parliament. The bill was passed in the House by 327-0 votes as per the recommendation of the concerned parliamentary standing committee.
The government amended the constitution with a view to restoring the 1972 constitution.
