Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – A countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike called by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in protest against the mysterious disappearance of the party’s organizing secretary Ilias Ali is progressing without any major incident of violence on Sunday.
The BNP blamed the government for the ‘disappearance’ of Ilias Ali, also a former MP. He remained missing since Tuesday night.
A cocktail was blasted in front of Nayapaltan central office of the BNP around 7:00 in the morning.
No incident of picketing was reported in the early morning in the major points of the capital Dhaka.
Almost all modes of vehicles except few buses and rickshaws went off the streets. All educational institutions, business establishments and most shops remained closed.
Very few CNG run three wheelers are seen to ply the city streets during the morning hours.
Rickshaws are found dominating the major thoroughfares of the city like other Strike days.
No long-route buses left the city terminal since the morning. But the train and launch services however remain normal.
Meanwhile, the government a day before strike, generally known as hartal, on Saturday postponed today’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations due to the hartal.
Earlier on Thursday, BNP observed a hartal in Sylhet division on the same issue.
BBN/SSR/AD-22Apr12-10:30 am (BST)
