BNP cancels today's rally

The BNP has cancelled its today's rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital as the Dhaka Metropolitan Police remained silent on giving it the permission, a party leader has said.   
“We were at the DMP office for an hour since 7:00pm but they did not talk to us about the permission,” Barkat Ullah Bulu, BNP joint secretary general, told The Daily Star around 10:30pm yesterday.  
BNP acting secretary

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will disclose the next plan of the party at a press conference at its Nayapaltan headquarters at 12:00noon today, sources said.
The BNP had sought the permission on October 29 to hold the rally as part of its 10-day programmes, marking the “National Revolution and Solidarity Day” on November 7, Bulu added.
Earlier in the day, Fakhrul said people would force the government to hold a midterm national election before 2019.
He made the comment while briefing reporters after placing wreaths at the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.
Nearly an hour before the briefing, a vehicle carrying BNP leaders Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annee and Sultan Salauddin Tuku came under an attack at Bijoy Sarani intersection.
The vehicle was in the convoy of party chairperson Khaleda Zia which was heading towards Zia's grave.
Both Annee and Tuku, BNP's student affairs secretary and assistant secretary respectively, were unhurt.
The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal members who were deprived of posts in the newly formed central committee carried out the attack, said JCD insiders.   
The new committee has been rejected by a group of JCD leaders who termed it a “pocket committee” of Annee and Tuku.
Recently, several leaders of ruling Awami League, including its chief Sheikh Hasina, have said the next national elections will be held at the “right time.”   
During her recent UAE visit, Hasina said: "According to the constitution, the government's tenure is five years. The election can be held anytime in a democracy and the government has every right to hold it anytime. But I am saying the election will be held at the right time.”
Responding to the statement by Hasina, Fakhrul had said: “The government has begun to bow to the public demand for a general election.”
The BNP leader also said he was a politician and they could understand the “language of other politicians.”
On many occasions, the BNP has reiterated its threat to wage a tougher anti-government movement for an immediate election under a non-partisan caretaker government. However, it has not said when the movement would begin.
BNP chief Khaleda Zia has recently urged her leaders and activists to get ready to hit the streets.