| Another day, another hartal... |
The acting BNP secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, flanked by the secretary level leaders of the alliance at a news briefing at the BNP chairpersonÂ’s Gulshan office announced the hartal. The hartal would be enforced from 6:00am Monday to 6:00pm Wednesday demanding free, fair and inclusive elections under a non-party government, Fakhrul said.
The BNP-led alliance earlier enforced a 60-hour countrywide shutdown from October 27.
| And that worked well... |
Before the news briefing, the acting BNP secretary general held a meeting with secretaries of the components of the alliance at KhaledaÂ’s Gulshan office. Fakhrul said it was the responsibility of the government to set a date again for dialogue and take a fresh initiative for it.
But he alleged that without doing so the conversation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia was broadcast ‘unlawfully’ and ‘unethically’ by the mass media without consent of the opposition leader.
‘It is clear that the government has done it deliberately to block the path of dialogue and consensus,’ he said.
Fakhrul said the opposition leader during the phone conversation with the prime minister on October 26 had said that she was ready to talk anytime and anywhere after the hartal that ended on October 29.