72hrs hartal going on peacefully

The first day of the 72-hour hartal (shutdown) sponsored by the BNP-led 20-party alliance is progressing peacefully across the country today.

The strike was enforced protesting the “killing of opposition leaders and activists in the name of crossfire and for the filing of false cases against alliance leaders.”

No picketing was reported from anywhere of the country till 10:30am when the report was filed.

A huge traffic jam was seen on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue and Farmgate of Dhaka as people dared to come out of the houses defying the hartal.

Meanwhile, elite force Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) conducted a drive Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area in the capital ahead of the shutdown and arrested a man named Rajib, 28, along with nine crude bombs around 11:30pm yesterday, said ASP Maruf Ahmed, operation officer of Rab-2.

Apart from this, police picked up at least eight activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, from different parts of Dhaka in 24 hours till 9:00am today over charges of subversive activities, a text message sent by Dhaka Metropolitan Police said this morning. Further details are awaited.

The fresh spell of 72-hour hartal which starts from 6:00am today will continue till 6:00am Wednesday. The hartal announcement has forced the government to defer two SSC and equivalent public exams slated for today and Tuesday.

On top of the indefinite blockade since January 6, the alliance has been enforcing hartals since February 1, excluding Fridays and Saturdays, forcing the education ministry to reschedule exams every week. 

The students could take only five exams in the last 18 days, all on the weekends. Earlier, the education ministry had to defer the exams on February 2, 4, 8 and 10 to February 6, 7, 13, and 14 respectively.

Apart from the SSC and its equivalent exams, the country's overall education, business, manufacturing industries, agriculture, transport -- all sectors have been hugely affected by the hartals and the blockade.

Blockade and hartal violence has already claimed the lives of 74 people. Some 300 victims of petrol bombs have suffered burns so far.