Staff Reporter :The hartal in 16 adjoining districts of Dhaka division amid the ongoing indefinite blockade on Monday plunged the country into one of its worst crises. The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal called yesterday’s hartal in 17 districts of Dhaka Division–Dhaka, Gazipur, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Madaripur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Netrokona, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Sherpur and Tangail.The announcement of the shutdown came on top of the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced countrywide blockade. The JCD called the hartal protesting the confinement of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.The pro-blockade and pro-hartal activists attacked buses, launched arson attack, blockaded roads, threw petrol bombs and detonated crude bombs. The two people who met the tragic end of their lives were identified as Parvej, 25, at Gobindaganj in Gaibandha district, Atiqur Rahman, 22, a truck helper, received serious burn injuries on Wednesday at Begumganj Bazar in Noakhali district succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 11 am in city. In the last six days of the blockade, the BNP-Jamaat became more active at the dead of the night in city and elsewhere creating panic among people the capital Dhaka and highways. According to witnesses and police, when a Dhaka-bound passenger bus of Ena Paribahan reached near Kalitala area, the blockade supporters threw petrol bomb at it. As Parvej tried to escape the attack and jumped out of the bus, a truck ran over him killing him on the spot in the early hours of Monday. At least 15 other people received serious burn injuries. Apart from these, the economy has started to bleed as the ongoing blockade to hit the country’s businesses from all fronts. Imported goods have piled up at Chittagong port. Exports have taken a hit as transport of garment products, the lifeline of the economy, and other exportable goods from factories to Chittagong port have come to a standstill.”Essential commodities could not be sent from depots to faraway locations,” Omar Faruk, secretary, Chittagong port told The New Nation yesterday.According to the Chittagong port sources, some 22 thousands to 24 thousands containers TUS are deposited at the port but now the number rose to 26,443 TUS. And these containers were waiting for dispatch to different places of the country. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled former Chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank said the disrupted supply of rice, vegetables and other key commodities to the capital and other parts of the country means their prices will soar.The blockade supporters exploded four crude bombs near Doel Chattar at Curzon Hall in Dhaka University area at about 2.10 pm. Besides, two buses were set ablaze in at Golap Shah Mazar in Gulistan area and Bashundhara Gate in the city’s Narda area yesterday morning. Apart from these, agency adds at least 10 people, including five ruling party men, were injured when several crude bombs were set off in different places of the city on Monday afternoon.Five activists of ruling Awami League and its associate bodies suffered injuries when 5-6 crude bombs were exploded near the Central Shaheed Minar on Dhaka University campus around 4pm, said sources at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).They are Md Hasan, 30, Milon, 30, Quader, 32, Abdul Latif, 35, and Aslam, 35.They came to the capital from Nawabganj upazila of Dhaka to join the AL rally at Suhrawardy Udyan when they came under attack, said the sources.Pedestrian Abdul Jabbar, 40, was injured when miscreants blasted two crude bombs near Tanti Bazar under Kotwali Police Station around 3:30 pm.In another incident, rickshaw-puller Milon, 30, and his passenger Nipa Akhter, 25, sustained injuries from splinters as three bombs went off near Suritola School under Bangshal police at the same time.Miscreants blasted 2-3 crude bombs at Azimpur bus stand around 3:30pm, leaving Samiul, 45, a rickshaw-puller, wounded.In another incident at Nazirabazar crossing under Bangshal police station, Rejaul Bepari, 30, a hotel employee, was injured as 2-3 bombs were exploded in the area around 4pm. The injured were taken to the DMCH.In Gazipur the pro-hartal and blockade activists set fire to four vehicles at Cherag Ali in Tongi, Nayanpur in Sreepur, at Joydevpur railway crossing and Dhirashram area of the district. They also vandalised a number of running vehicles at that time.The blockade and hartal supporters also pelted stones targeting the law enforcers and running vehicles in those areas. Police arrested at least 20 pickets from the spot. In Manikganj, the BNP-Jamaat activists set fire on a human hauler in the town. Talking to this reporter, an official of Manikganj Sadar police station said when the human hauler was going to the bus stand it came under attack. The hartal and blockade supporters dragged the driver out of the human hauler and set it ablazed.In Munshiganj, the hartal and blockade supporter launched arson attack on a microbus while it was passing by the Jamaldi bus stand at Gazaria upazila in the district. In Rajshahi, the pro-blockade activists set fire on a potato laden pick up van in front of airport in the city. According to police, when a potato-laden truck was passing by the Rajshahi airport it came under arson attack. The blockaders set ablaze the truck.
