CHT hartal called off 18 hrs early

The 72-hours hartal in the three hill districts of Chittagong was called off 18-hours ahead of the scheduled time yesterday.
The programme enforced by Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad and Parbatya Nagarik Parishad from last Tuesday morning, protesting the approval to the CHT Land Commission (Amendment) Bill by the cabinet, ended at 12:00pm.
President of Parbatya Nagarik Parishad Alkas Al Mamun said, they decided to call off the strike as they would submit a memorandum to the Parliament Speaker and the Parliamentary Committee on Land Ministry in the afternoon asking them not to pass the bill in JS.
However, the hartal passed off peacefully in Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban districts yesterday.
In Khagrachhari, the organisations relaxed the strike in the district town because of the weekly bazaar  yesterday.
Life returned to normal, shops and markets remained open while auto-rickshaws and manual rickshaws, were seen plying from the morning.
However, the long route vehicles started operation from 03:00pm as the pro-hartal activists were active in different areas of Ramgarh and Matiranga upazilas.
In Rangamati, the hartal passed off almost peacefully although pickets burned tyres at Banarupa, Reserve Bazar and Bhadvadi areas of the district town.
Most shops kept their shutters down during the hartal hours while a few vehicles including auto-rickshaws, motorcycles were seen on the streets.
In Bandarban, life in the district was almost normal during the hartal hours as shops, markets remained opened and all kinds of vehicles plied normally.