Hartal called for today in Dhaka, 11 districts

The BNP-led alliance today enforces hartal in 11 districts, including the capital, amid its ongoing nonstop blockade.

The 24-hour hartal in the capital would begin from 6:00am while the shutdown in the 11 districts, including Dhaka, would be daylong, the alliance announced yesterday.

The programme was announced to protest filing cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and placing her party leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on remand.

The other districts are Gazipur, Tangail, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Kishoreganj and Mymensingh, Natore and Feni.

Even though the 20-party alliance earlier announced that Dhaka city would remain out of the hartal purview, it thought the better of it later.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday called for a 36-hour hartal in Rajshahi from Saturday protesting killing its local leader Nurul Kabir Shahin.

He was killed in a so-called shootout with police in the early hours of Wednesday.

BNP chief Khaleda and 31 other leaders of the BNP and Jamaat were sued on Sunday night for torching a covered van in Chauddagram upazila of Comilla.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has also prayed to the High Court to revive the Gatco graft case against Khaleda filed seven years ago.

On the other hand, a court on Tuesday for the first time placed Fakhrul on a three-day remand in a case filed for torching a vehicle of the public administration ministry on December 28 last year.

The 20-party alliance also announced to organise special prayers after the upcoming Juma prayers at different mosques for all those opposition men “killed by the law enforcers” across the country.

BNP Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed in a press release asked all leaders and activists of the alliance to join the prayers.