A dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the BNP and its allies is underway across Bangladesh today (December 19) demanding the cancellation of the January 7 general election and the resignation of the ruling Awami League, handing over the power to a party-neutral election-time administration.

Jamaat-e-Islami is also observing the hartal separately.

The hartal programme was initially scheduled for Monday, the day of the formal start of election campaigning.

But the opposition parties shifted the programme to Tuesday in light of Bangladesh’s one-day state mourning on Monday following the passing of Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

On December 17, the BNP announced the hartal amid a home ministry instruction to the returning officers to prevent political gatherings, rallies, and similar programmes from December 18 until the end of the 12th parliamentary election on January 7.

This is the fourth hartal programme for BNP since October 28, in addition to the 22-day blockade programme in 11 phases.

The party initiated a day-long hartal nationwide on October 29 after police and ruling party activists thwarted its October 28 grand rally in Dhaka.

At a virtual press conference, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi requested the people of the country, as well as party leaders and activists, to make the hartal programme successful.

BDST: 0837 HRS, DEC 19, 2023
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