Jamaat also announces nationwide hartal for today

News Desk :
Protesting the “unjust arrests” and obstruction of its activists in Saturday’s rally, the Jamaat-e-Islami also announced a dawn-to-dusk nationwide hartal for today, coinciding with the strike announced earlier by the BNP.

Acting Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Maulana ATM Masum declared the hartal in a statement today, saying the government had arrested more than 300 leaders and activists of the party from different parts of the country to thwart and the police’s obstruction of the mass meeting announced by Jamaat on 28 October, and the unjust arrest of the leaders and activists who came to attend the mass meeting, we are announcing a peaceful morning-evening hartal across the country tomorrow,” he said.

In the statement, Masum said it was the constitutionally recognised democratic right of any political party to hold meetings and marches.

Leaders and activists who came to attend the Jamaat’s mass meeting were arrested from buses, launches and trains, he alleged, saying the detentions were illegal and undemocratic.