The BNP-led 20-party alliance on Friday called a daylong hartal in Gazipur district for Saturday, protesting the imposition of section 144 by the local administration ahead of its scheduled rally. The 20-party alliance also declared a demonstration programme elsewhere in the country on the day. Gazipur district BNP president Fazlul Haque Milon announced the shutdown programme at a press briefing around 9pm, after a meeting of BNP senior leaders with party chairperson Khaleda Zia in chair at her Gulshan political office. Addressing the press briefing, Milon said BNP announced the hartal programme in protest against the government’s undemocratic attitude exposed again with the imposition of section 144 ahead of the 20-party rally. Later at the press briefing, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the countrywide agitation, also protesting the imposition of section 144 in Gazipur. Fakhrul said the government has obliterated the right to holding protests by clamping the section 144. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was scheduled to address a public rally on Bhawal Badre Alam Government College compound in Gazipur on Saturday. The district unit of Chhatra League on December 20 warned that they will not allow BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to enter the district until Tarique Rahman apologises for calling Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a ‘Razakar’. Tarique at a recent programme in London termed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a ‘Razakar’ for banning Awami League in 1975. –UNB, Dhaka.
