BNP calls dawn-to-dusk hartal in Rangpur on Sunday

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its three associate organisations have called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Rangpur city on Sunday, demanding the government’s resignation, release of BNP chief Khaleda Zia and its Rangpur city leadership.

A statement signed by conveners and member secretaries of Rangpur city Jubo Dal, Swechchasebak Dal, and Chhatra Dal announced the hartal on Saturday afternoon.

They urged their party loyalists as well as the city dwellers to cooperate with the strike programme.

The hartal came on the heels of a court verdict announced on 20 November that sentenced five opposition men to 10-year jail and fined them Tk 10,000 each in a sabotage case filed.

The convicts are – Mahfuz Un Nabi, member secretary of Rangpur city BNP; Anisur Rahman, member secretary of Rangpur district BNP; Jahir Alam, senior joint convener of city Jubo Dal; Tarek Hasan, vice-president of district Jubo Dal; and Arif Hossain, a Jubo Dal activist.

Earlier, the police arrested the three convicts, including 14 other BNP men, from the BNP office premises in Rangpur on 29 October.