60-hr hartal demanding talks

Khaleda gives 2-day ultimatum, urges charter amendment for polls-time govt

Opposition leader Khaleda Zia delivering her speech at opposition rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.

 The opposition has called a 60-hour hartal (shutdown) from 6:00am Sunday, giving the government a two-day ultimatum for initiating dialogue on a neutral election-time government.
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia made the announcement from a huge anti-government rally at Suhrawardy Udyan this afternoon.
Khaleda alleged that the Awami League-led grand alliance government has not worked to ensure the rights of the people rather concentrated to protect the interest of the party.
“This government arrests people when they try to hold meetings and rallies. They are out to violate people’s rights, not to ensure,” the BNP chairperson said addressing thousands of opposition activists.
She reached Suhrawardy Udyan around 4:00pm amid the cheers from thousands of opposition activists who gathered there to attend a key anti-government rally.
BNP Dhaka city unit Convener Sadek Hossain Khoka is presiding over the rally.
The BNP-led 18-party opposition is holding the rally to show of its strength as it pursues the government to install a neutral polls-time government.

Opposition 18-party leaders address the rally at Suhrawardi Udyan in the capital on Friday afternoon. Photo: Tv grab

Braving drizzle that continues since the morning, hundreds of opposition workers — mainly of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir — reached the rally venue.
Though the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), while issuing permission, slapped a condition that no processions could be brought out, opposition men, especially the Shibir men, marched the streets with processions.
There was however no reports of law enforcers or any other quarters obstructing the opposition workers.
A huge contingent of police and members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have been deployed in and around the rally venue.
With the rally scheduled to begin at 2:00pm, thousands of workers gathered at Matsya Bhaban.
“We will start marching towards Suhrawardy Udyan before the rally begins,” a BNP ward-level leader told reporters.
After a daylong drama, the opposition alliance last night decided to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in keeping with the DMP permission.
Tension ran high as the opposition announced last evening that it would organise the programme in Nayapaltan area, while the DMP said it would allow the opposition only at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Star Online Report