Bangladesh opposition calls 72-hour strike

DHAKA, Feb. 7 (NsNewsWire) — Bangladesh’s main opposition alliance has called another round of nationwide strike from Sunday morning protesting “arrest and killing of its leaders and activists.”

The opposition alliance has decided to enforce the shutdown, the announcement of which came just a day after it observed a five- day countrywide strike from Feb. 1 morning amid violent clashes, vandalism, arson and crude bomb attacks, reports Xinhua.

Two-time ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Spokesperson Salahuddin Ahmed made the announcement of latest strike through a press release on Friday.

BNP and its allies has declared the 72-hour road, rail and waterway strike from Sunday morning amid its ongoing blockade campaign that entered 32nd day on Friday.

Salauddin Ahmed, a BNP joint secretary general, said the 72- hour strike will start at 6:00 a.m. local time Sunday and will continue till 6:00 a.m. local time Wednesday.

He said the strike also aimed at demanding release of the alliance’s dozens of leaders and activists including BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed.

Earlier in the day, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, key ally Zia’s 20-party opposition alliance, called the dawn-to-dusk shutdown protesting the “killing and arrest of its leaders and activists.”

Shibir President Abdul Jabbar in a press release on Friday made the announcement, claiming that “Seven Shibir leaders and activists were shot dead in the last one month.”

A police spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the claim of Shibir president.

The announcement of the fresh 72-hour strike, however, came around shortly after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called upon the alliance not to enforce strike during the ongoing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations of about 1.5 million students.

The examinations, which began on Friday after they were deferred twice due to the five-day shutdown by the alliance in the last week, again face uncertainty following the announcement of 72- hour shutdown from Sunday.

Sheikh Hasina Friday urged the opposition alliance to refrain from strike during the examinations