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| Bangladesh |
| More hartals, if necessary |
| 2010-11-28 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] BNP leaders have warned that the party will call a series of hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... after that on November 30, if necessary, to stop government repression on leaders and activists of the party. Moudud Ahmed, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and ASM Hannan Shah, national standing committee members of BNP and other leaders gave the warning at two programmes in the capital yesterday. And BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain criticised the government for "mass arrest" of party leaders across the country ahead of the November 30 hartal. In a press statement, he said around 250 party leaders of different ranks were jugged yesterday and several hundred others were maimed in police baton charge while campaigning in support of the hartal. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's adviser Abdul Awal Mintoo and a number of party leaders conducted the campaign at different points in the capital. They also circulated leaflets mentioning the government's "wrongdoings" and "failures" in running the country. At a discussion meeting at the Jatiya Press Club, Moudud Ahmed said, "We are warning the government of a series of hartal after November 30 if it does not stop repression on opposition parties." He ruled out BNP's joining parliament session as, he said, the government does not allow opposition politicians to criticise its wrongdoings. "The government has made parliament almost dysfunctional. Bypassing the House, they (govt) are reprinting the constitution. But the Supreme Court in a verdict asked them to reprint the constitution after bringing amendments to it in parliament," Moudud said at the discussion on "Rule of law, human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... price hike of essentials and nepotism in administration." Talking to journalists at the grave of president Ziaur Rahman, BNP standing committee members Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Hannan Shah said the party will be bound to call a series of hartal if the government creates an 'anarchic' situation centring the hartal on November 30. "We do not believe in destructive politics. The government alone will be responsible if any untoward situation on the hartal day due to its oppression," Goyeshwar said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 My eyes keep crossing when I read that headline. I don't know why, maybe Pan's influence, but it keeps coming up as harlots and hotels. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2010-11-28 23:22 |