The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies on Thursday announced a 48-hour hartal across the country for November 19 and November 20 to press home their one-point demand and protesting at announcement of next general election schedule by the Election Commission.
The announced the hartal in separate programmes and statements on Thursday, the last day of the opposition-enforced 48-hour blockade and the day when one of BNP’s allies, Ganatantra Mancha, enforced a half-day hartal.
The BNP and its allies are on simultaneous movement to press home their demand for resignation of the government, dissolving the parliament and holding the next general election under a nutral government.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the hartal programme of his party at a virtual press conference at around 4:00pm.
The Ganatantra Mancha, a combine of six political parties and organisations, also on Thursday announced a 48-hour hartal across Bangladesh for November 19 and November 20.
The central steering committee of the combine, in a press release in the afternoon, said that the hartal was called protesting against announcement of the schedule for the next general election.
The hartal was announced in a rally after processions supporting Thursday’s hartal called by the combine to protest against the election schedule, the release said.
They alleged that the ruling party’s subservient Election Commission had announced the schedule to stage a one-sided election.
They demanded to cancel the election schedule and announced to resist any unilateral election.
A faction of Gono Odhikar Parishad, led by Nurul Haque Nur, on Thursday also announced a 48-hour hartal beginning from Sunday morning demanding the cancellation of the schedule for the 12 parliamentary polls.
Party president Nurul Haque Nur came up with the announcement after staging a demonstration in the capital's Bijoynagar area in protest against the polls schedule.
He said the shutdown will begin at 6:00am on Sunday and end at 6:00m on Tuesday.
