Hartal Again

DHAKA NEWS

The BNP-led 18-party alliance has called back-to-back shutdowns for today and tomorrow for the government's “failure to return” missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali by the opposition-set deadline.

Acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the dawn-to-dusk hartal at a press conference in the party's Nayapaltan office in the capital yesterday.

“The government has failed to produce Ilias before the nation by our chairperson's four-day deadline. Such forced disappearance is nothing but a crime against humanity,” he said.

He also threatened to go for tougher programmes if the government fails to make any progress in tracing Ilias and his driver Ansar Ali by Monday.

Fakhrul, however, hinted that the opposition would not stage any agitation during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's May 5 visit to Dhaka. “We will not do anything that harms the country's interests and image. However, Awami League had called hartal when the US secretary of state visited Dhaka during BNP's tenure. Besides, May Day will also be observed on Tuesday.”

When a reporter drew his attention to the ongoing HSC examinations, he said, “We tried to avoid calling hartal on exam days. But Ilias' disappearance is a national crisis. It is not a simple incident. It involves the future of the country's democracy, independence and sovereignty.

“Ilias' son is also an HSC examinee. Instead of preparing for the exams, he has been made to wait for his father's return.”

BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sircar, and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Bangladesh Jatiya Party Secretary General Shamim Al Mamun and Islami Oikya Jote Secretary General Abdul Latif Nezami were present at the BNP office where several hundred opposition workers and leaders thronged in the afternoon.

A huge number of police and Rab personnel were deployed in the area to ward off pre-hartal violence.

Meanwhile, BNP and its allies staged demonstrations at upazila headquarters to protest Ilias' disappearance. Alamgir alleged that police charged batons to disperse the opposition's processions in many areas.

M Ilias Ali, BNP central organising secretary and its Sylhet unit president, along with his driver went missing on April 17 and his car was found abandoned near his Banani residence the next day.

BNP on April 18 called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for April 22 and later extended it for two more days.

After the hartal for the third consecutive day on April 24, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia set a four-day deadline for the government to find the missing BNP leader.

Yesterday, Alamgir said, “Seventeen days have passed since Ilias went missing. But the government is yet to locate him. We believe government agencies are behind his disappearance, which is aimed to divert public attention from the government's failure to run the country.”

Asked about the filing of a writ petition with a court for banning hartal, the BNP leader said it is a political issue. “I don't know if the court has any jurisdiction to make decisions on political programmes.”

It's true that hartal will create some problems for people but they are ready to make this sacrifice in their greater interest, he said.

“Hartal will be enforced only during the daytime.”

The BNP leader thanked the international community for protesting Ilias' disappearance.