... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
s.
As part of this strategy, the party is likely to announce today a 48-hour countrywide hartal for Wednesday and Thursday.
A number of party policymakers said the BNP under the banner of the 18-party alliance might go for 48 or 72 hours of hartals and blockades from next month to step up its agitation.
If the situation is favourable, the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance might also go for a "March towards Dhaka" programme and agitate in the capital to cripple the government, the policymakers added.
According to them, success in April will determine the mode of agitation in May.
"The party chief wants to play all-out from now on with no holds barred. So, there may be no break in our agitation from April," said a BNP policymaker, adding that their target was somehow to push the situation beyond the control of the government.
BNP chief
Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
yesterday at a rally in Bogra also hinted at demonstrations from Wednesday. She said, "New agitation programmes will be announced tomorrow [today]. The programmes will continue after March 26."
Urging party men to remain ready for the march towards the capital, she said, "Come to Dhaka when I call you. We will return home only after the fall of the government."
BNP policymakers believe the Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
will be more active on the streets during the opposition's upcoming agitation, as the war crimes tribunals may deliver next month the verdicts in the cases against former Jamaat ameer Ghulam Azam and its assistant secretary general Kamaruzzaman.
"We are now struggling for life. The time is ripe. People will enforce any programmes announced by the high command," Abu Taleb Mandal, secretary of Pabna district unit Jamaat, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"The grassroots-level workers do not want any pause in the agitation," he added.
Against this backdrop, it is obvious that the higher secondary examinees will suffer from the opposition's programmes. The examination is scheduled to start from April 1 and finish towards the end of May.
"We will certainly intensify our agitation in April and will not consider any public examinations. They should adjust the schedules with our programmes," BNP big shot Moudud Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.
Moudud, a member of the BNP national standing committee, said they had been forced to go for tougher agitation by the government's intolerance and hostile attitude towards the opposition.
Asked about the upcoming programmes, BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said hartals and blockade are two effective tools of movements in Bangladesh.
"The nature of our agitation will depend on the prevailing situation," he told The Daily Star yesterday.