Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has decided to call a nationwide dawn to dusk general strike, generally known as hartal for Thursday protesting price hike of fuel, share market scam, and repression on opposition leaders and activists.
The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of BNP’s senior leaders at Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office Monday night with her in the chair, The Daily Star, a local newspaper, reported.
The leaders mainly discussed the impact of price hike of fuel and decided to protest it strongly. They think it will help the party to get more public support ahead of its scheduled rally from where Khaleda Zia is expected to announce a raft of anti-government programs, the newspaper reported quoting meeting sources.
The party called an emergency media briefing for Tuesday today at its central office in the capital Dhaka to make a formal announcement about the protest programs.
It will also stage demonstrations across the country on Wednesday over the same issues.
“We’ve discussed the latest political situation and the preparations for our September 27 rally. We will inform you in detail about the meeting’s decisions tomorrow,” BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters after the meeting.
BBN/SSR/AD-20Sept11-10:46 am (BST)
