Shutdown makes people suffer for lack of transport

Jamaat-Shibir cadres, wielding sharp weapons, block the Meherpur-Chuadanga highway in Rajnagar during hartal hours yesterday. Photo: Star

Panic-stricken Eid holidaymakers had to endure sufferings on their return to the capital due to the Jamaat-e-Islami's 48-hour shutdown that began yesterday morning.
The Jamaat, a key component of the BNP-led 18-party alliance, called the hartal on August 1, protesting the High-Court's verdict that cancelled the party's registration with the Election Commission. The hartal will end at 6:00am tomorrow.
There had been confusion over the curtailing of hartal hours following two contradictory statements by Jamaat.
In a press release sent at 7:10pm yesterday, Jamaat said the shutdown would end at 6:00pm today, instead of 6:00am tomorrow.
When contacted, Jamaat central leader Abdullah Md Taher told The Daily Star that they had curtailed the shutdown by 12 hours “considering the sufferings of the holidaymakers”.
But in another press release sent at 10:21pm, the party said the shutdown would end at 6:00am tomorrow.
Supporters of the party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir clashed with law enforcers in Meherpur and Chittagong, leaving at least 60 people, including 14 police personnel, injured on the first day of the hartal, report our correspondents.
Pro-hartal pickets went on the rampage during hartal hours, and torched and vandalised at least 18 vehicles in different parts of the country. A driver suffered severe burns at Sitakunda in Chittagong.
In the capital, a mobile court sentenced five Jamaat-Shibir activists to six months' imprisonment each for picketing at Nayapaltan, Lalbagh and Armanitola, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star last night.
A man was killed and five others were seriously injured, as their jeep fell into a roadside ditch at Cox's Bazar sadar. The driver lost control of the vehicle after it was chased by Jamaat-Shibir men during the hartal, said Jasim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Sadar Model Police Station.

Hundreds of inter-district buses sit idle at Mohakhali bus terminal in the capital yesterday, the first day of Jamaat-e-Islami's 48-hour countrywide shutdown. Owners avoid running their buses on hartal days for the fear of vandalism, while tens of thousands of people suffer immensely due to absence of vehicles on the road.Photo: Palash Khan

The incident happened around 9:50pm when they were travelling to Ramu from Chittagong, said the OC.
The dead was identified as Hamidul Haque, 48, of Cox's Bazar sadar upazila. The injured were rushed to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital.
A large number of people, who went to their village homes to celebrate Eid, could not travel back to the capital for lack of transport yesterday.
But those who had no alternative but to reach Dhaka yesterday remained stranded at Sadarghat launch terminal and Gabtoli and Mohakhali bus stations for hours, as the number of public vehicles was very low in the capital because of the shutdown.
“I had been in a state of panic the whole Monday night while I was returning to Dhaka by a bus. Though I reached the capital safely, I cannot find any transport to go home,” said Abdus Salam, a bank official who reached Dhaka from Khulna around 6:00am yesterday.
Like him, many others were seen waiting for vehicles for hours to reach their destinations.
Several hundred women and children were found waiting at the Sadarghat launch terminal after a whole night's journey to the capital.
No buses on long routes travelled to or from the capital, but train and launch services remained unaffected during the hartal, which was enforced just two days after Eid-ul-Fitr.
In Meherpur, at least 50 people, including 10 police personnel, were injured in two clashes between law enforcers and Jamaat-Shibir activists during hartal hours. Police arrested three Jamaat-Shibir activists, reports our correspondent.
Jamaat-Shibir men attacked police with sharp weapons and sticks when the law enforcers barred them from blocking a road in Garadob Bazar area in the morning, Masudul Alam, officer-in-charge of Gangni Police Station, told The Daily Star.
An injured Masudul said police fired 50 rubber bullets and lobbed 13 teargas canisters during the clashes.
BUSINESS LEADERS CONCERNED
Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said, “We want a settlement of political disputes through a political dialogue between the leaders of the two parties.”
Echoing his view, Sabur Khan, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said businesses were the main losers in shutdowns.