BNP’s 48-hour blockade starts
BNP and other opposition party’s 48-hour blockade of road, rail and waterways started from 6:00am today, Sunday. The blockade will end at 6:00am on Tuesday.
BNP sources said a fresh programme would be rolled out after the end of the blockade. While strict programmes are likely to be slated for Wednesday and Thursday, possibility of any programme on Friday and Saturday is slim.
The party insiders said the BNP high command opts for continuing the programmes despite ongoing arrest of leaders-activists en masse. They think the government would become stricter if the programme is paused. Moreover, the party’s central office in Naya Paltan is still locked since the foiled rally 28 October.
A total of 67 cases have been filed in connection with the violence centering BNP rally on 28 October. Party secretary general and many other leaders have been arrested while many other top leaders went into hiding to evade arrest.
Under this circumstance, the party leaders do not see any alternative to continuing the ongoing movement. Sources said BNP’s acting chairman talked with many leaders of district and upazila levels to understand the situation on the ground.
Several sources said grassroots leaders are in favor of continuing the movement. They think the government would become more repressive on them if the party relaxes its programme now.
While a significant portion of the leaders and activists are skeptical, the question arises as to how long they can sustain these strike and blockade programmes and whether they possess the organisational capacity to do so. A two-day blockade programme is starting today amid this dilemma.
Simultaneously, in Chattogram, the North and South City and District BNP has announced an all-out hartal programme in Chattogram district and city for today, Sunday.
This strike was declared in protest against the arrest of Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, a member of the party's standing committee. BNP has urged the people of Chattogram to carry out the hartal and blockade programme peacefully.
In Kishoreganj, BNP has called for a morning-to-evening hartal in the district today. The party alleges that three people, including Deputy Organising Secretary (Mymensingh Region) and District BNP President Shariful Alam, were apprehended by individuals in plainclothes posing as members of the Detective Branch (DB) on Saturday. The party has initiated this programme in protest of this incident.
In a virtual press conference on Saturday, BNP's Senior Joint General Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that leaders and workers are being arrested all over the country, down to the union level, with the intention to 'eliminate BNP.'
More than 176 leaders and workers have been arrested in the last 24 hours, and more than 575 leaders and workers have been accused in various cases.
In the aftermath of the attacks and clashes during their grand rally on 28 October, BNP called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal across the country on 29 October.
Following the hartal, the party, along with the parties and alliances participating in the simultaneous movement, including BNP, declared a two-day blockade program starting from Sunday, with a break on Friday and Saturday.