BNP-led alliance’s hartal today

The countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal, called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, begins this morning (6:00 am), soon after Jamaat-e-Islami called hartal comes to an end. The 20-party alliance on Saturday announced the hartal programme protesting the passage of the ’16th Constitution Amendment Bill’ that empowered the Parliament to remove Supreme Court judges.Leaders and workers of the alliance brought out processions in several parts of the country in support of Monday’s hartal. Police, however, did not allow pro-hartal processions in several districts. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a statement on Sunday alleged that the government is trying to obstruct the peaceful hartal programme through harassment and arrest. He claimed that a number of leaders and workers of the alliance were arrested ahead of the hartal. He called upon the countrymen to make the hartal a success.The BNP leader said that vehicles carrying Hajj pilgrims, restaurants, medicine shops, fire service, ambulance, press cars and vehicles carrying bodies would remain out of the purview of the hartal.Earlier, members of police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed in the capital from Saturday night ahead of Jamaat’s hartal. The law enforcers will continue their duties till the end of Monday’s hartal. According to the claims of BNP and Jamaat acting secretary generals Mirza Fakhrul and Dr Shafiqur Rahman, at least 117 leaders and workers of BNP, Jamaat and other partners were arrested during the Jamaat’s hartal and ahead of the 20-party’s hartal. The two leaders demanded immediate and unconditional release of the arrestees. According to them, at least 3 people were arrested in Sirajganj, while 6 in Bagerhat, 6 in Khulna, 10 in Noakhali, 3 in Jhenaidah, 8 in Brahmmanbaria, 24 in Magura, 6 in Jessore, 27 in Satkhira and 4 in Narayanganj.Jamaat on Wednesday called a 48-hour countrywide hartal in two phases demanding the release of its nayebe ameer Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who was jailed by the Supreme Court unto death after commuting his capital punishment for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.