New Year begins with Jamaat hartal
New Year begins with Jamaat hartal
The New Year begins today with a countrywide hartal sponsored by the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The hartal (shutdown) was clamped from 6:00am this morning. However, no agitation or untoward incident was reported in Dhaka until filing of this report around 11:00am.
Vehicles were plying lesser in number than usual this morning. However, the traffic began to pick up as the day progressed. Public transportation and private cars were seen.
However, Dhaka was covered in a thick security blanket from last evening for new year celebrations. This morning too, additional forces were seen deployed at all key points.
The government carried out the textbook distribution programme for schoolchildren for 2015 defying hartal. About 33 crore primary and secondary textbooks were given free.
Jamaat-e-Islami, the force which opposed the birth of Bangladesh, called the shutdown protesting the death sentence of its top leader ATM Azharul Islam on charges of war crimes.
The party had also sponsored a shutdown that marked the end of the year yesterday. Apart from a covered van being torched in Mir Hazirbagh, no agitation was reported in Dhaka.