Leasing NCT terminal: Dhaka-Ctg road march departs Sitakunda

The Dhaka-to-Chattogram road march, organised by a coalition of left-leaning parties and organisations protesting foreign control over the country's seaports and other issues, departed from Sitakunda for the port city at noon today.

Operating under the banner of the "Anti-Imperialist Patriotic People", the coalition resumed its protest programme in the morning for a second consecutive day, staging rallies and processions in Feni and Mirsarai.

This road march, jointly initiative by six political parties under the Left Democratic Alliance (LDA) and five additional parties affiliated with the Anti-Fascist Left Alliance, commenced yesterday with a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.

Shafiuddin Kabir Abid, coordinator of the Chattogram unit of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), stated that the marchers would take a break in the Olonkar area of the port city for lunch.

PHOTO: MD RAJIB RAIHAN

They are scheduled to join a protest they rally at 3:00pm in the Barik Building area, where supporters from various parts of Chattogram will assemble. From there, the processionists will walk towards Chattogram port, culminating in a concluding rally in front of Bandar Bhaban later in the afternoon.

The coalition has articulated a set of demands, among which four are central: revoking the government's decision to hand over the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), the largest terminal at Chattogram port, to a foreign operator; cancelling any plan to establish a transit corridor through Myanmar's Rakhine State; terminating the agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink project; and annulment and public disclosure of all unequal treaties with imperialist powers, particularly the United States and India.

Although discussions are reportedly underway with the UAE-based port operator DP World to operate the NCT, leftist leaders argue that this move, initiated under the previous Awami League administration, is both unnecessary and detrimental, especially as the terminal is already operational and profitable.

They have also raised concerns to the government's initiative to facilitate a humanitarian aid corridor into Rakhine and the planned introduction of the Starlink satellite internet service, asserting that these are elements of a broader imperialist agenda led by the United States, which, they argue, poses a threat to national sovereignty.