& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Hartals can't stop polls, rally told

PM faces black flag demos, cancels Dagonbhuiya meet

From Nazmul Ashraf
FEN1. Feb 7: Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia today cancelled a public meeting at Dagonbhuiya amid opposition agitation and faced black flag demonstrations at Mohipal on the first day of her two-day polls campaign in the hartal-bound district.
"None can stop the polls." a visibly irritated prime minister said amid cracker explosions and black flag demonstrations during her meeting at Mohipal. one of the seven she addressed on 1 he day
There wefe a series of op-posttfon demonstrations and black flags were seen atop houses and shops at Dagonbliufye where a young-man reportedly a Chhatra league activist was killed on Monday last in a clash with the BNP backed Chhatra Dal.
The BNP chairperson who
is contesting from' Feni-1 and Feni-2 constituencies in the February 15 parliamentary polls addressed six other meetings at Lalpur. Lash-karpur. Pathan Nagar. Kuresh Munshirhat, Ranirhat and Baraipur.
Two crackers were also exploded at her Lalpur meeting and another went off at Trunk Road when her motorcade was going from the
Circuit House to Lashkarhat about 6-km off the town. None was injured.
The opposition activists also damaged ten vehicles at Lalpur by-pass.
All the public meetings were poorly attended and the usual scene of people lining up along roads to watch the motorcade was not noticed due to hartal.
Although pickets were not
seen in the town, vehicles were off the roads and shops, market and educational institutions remained closed due to a hartal called by the Awami League, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami.
A group of anti-election activists with black flags penetrated into the meeting venu^ and reached within 50 yards of the rostrum while Begum Zia was addressing the meeting at Mohipal in Sadar thana.
A clash took place, between the protesters, identified as members of Awami League-backed Chhatra League, and activists of ruling party s student wing, Jatiy-3tabadt Cbhafca >3. -which left eight local newsmen in Jured.
They are Hablbur Rahman Habib of the AJker Kagoj.
Saifui Islam and Halim Azad of the Banglar Bani. Mohammad Alam of the Ittefaq. Mir Ahmed Miru of the Janakan-tha. Mahbub Hossain Nabln of Sangbad. Didarul Alam of The Dally Life and Mofizul Karim of the Karnaphuli.
The protesters, numbering about 50 also hurled five cocjctails from a stone's throw at about 11:35 am. but none was injured as those landed near the stage, witnesses said.
Police lobbed tear-gas sheHs to bring the situation under control.
The prime minister, however. continued her speech unperturbed, saying that her party believed in democracy which permitted the opposition activists to hold processions close to the meeting venue.
'We could stop this, but we don't. We believe that in democracy, everybody has the right to express his opinion." she sain, sounding a note of caution that the government, however, would not allow any terrorist activities.
"Showing black flags would be of no use. We could take action against the trouble-mongers. But we refrained from such action since we believe in democracy. But no terrorist would go unpunished." the Prime Minister said.
Blasting the opposition. Begum Zia said that they were out to foil the coming polls with an evil design to create constitutional crisis in the country and thus help rise of "evil forces ",
'They are boycotting the polls and even attempting to foil It as they're sure of their defeat. Sensing BNFs certain victory, they are now desperate to enchain the nation by renewing the 25-ye^r slavery treaty", she said adding her party would not allow the opposition conspiracy to succeed.
The BNP chief also said that the opposition was unwilling to go for polls under stand that people would again reject them. Now they have chosen destructive programmes like hartal, she said and added no hartal could stop polls, foil democracy and remove BNP from power.
"After the polls, the oppo sttion would be nowhere neither in the parliament nor on the streets", she said, TTiat's why they are desperate",
The BNP chief urged the people to cast their votes in the polls for the sake of protecting the constitution and the had-eamed democracy.
Works Minister Rafiqul Islam Mia and Energy Minister Mosharraf Hossain also addressed the meetings.