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Politics on coercive course over hartal

Staff Correspondent
Politics takes a coercive course as the government and the Awami League (AL) flex their muscle over hartal.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at a Sylhet rally yesterday said police would go tough on pickets, a warning echoed by Home Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury’ in parliament the same afternoon.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Abdul Hamid at a press briefing yesterday warned that they would go for more hartals if their activists
were attacked duringtoday's hartal.
The AL plans to gradually intensify hartal, from 12 hours today to 24 hours and then to 48 hours. Simultaneous actions to barricade rail tracks and roads have only heightened people's fear of disruption of normal life.
The AL has got support from a number of left-leaning and progressing parties in its anti-government action including the Gono Forum, the Communist Party of Bangladesh and Workers Party.
As politics has rolled onto the roads, parliament virtually lacks any
opposition members except two lawmakers Anwar Hossain Manju of die Jatiya Party (Manju) and Kader Siddiqui of Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League.
The ALhas been trying to woo the two members out of parliament into their movement fold. AL President Sheikh Hasina contacted Manju and tried to convince him, sources in her party said. The party also reached Kader Siddiqui through Gano Forum.
Jatiya Party (Ershad) Chairman HM Ershad has not yet stepped out to join the AL in its agitation, but at a party meeting yesterday said he also wants an end to the 'misrule' of the ruling coalition.
However, he has been maintaining a close contact with the AL. But both he and the AL leadership do not want this 'unofficial' liaison off public domain for their own reasons. Ershad fears any such over-gesture would earn him more government wrath, specially when he has more than a dozen graft cases pending against him. On the other hand, the AL fears Ershad's entry into the fray might displease the left parties and the movement would lose steam.
The government is also not sitting idle and has also been in touch with the left to dismantle the unity. Opening another front, the BNP has contacted Rawshan Ershad, the estranged wife of Ershad, to tag the Jatiya Party lawmakers sympathetic to the BNP with the government.
In a bid to concretise the opposition's unity, Dr Kamal Hossain of Gono Forum has called a national convention on March 14. This, many believe, may serve as a springboard for a greater movement.
The 'alternative stream' of politics
led by former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury is also keeping a close contact with the AL.
Against this backdrop, the home minister yesterday told parliament: "People don't want terrorism and hartals."
He took a swipe at the AL for enforcing hartals coinciding with important events like the microcredit summit and Unde-19 cricket world cup.
"If they continue disrupting public life in the name of hartal, the government would deal with it with a strong hand to protect lives and properties," he said.
Deputy Opposition Leader Hamid accused the government of forcing the opposition into calling hartals.
Caught in the political heat-up, common people and businessmen alike feel threatened. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at a meeting yesterday urged the politicians to find an alternative to hartal. Businessmen at the FBCCI meet also wanted an end to the rising crimes including killings and extortion.
Hasina Begum, a housewife of Gopibagh, yesterday told The Daily Star that she no longer wants to see the politics of conflict.
"My kid's schooling has been affected by hartal," she said. "I also want to be ensured that my kid can safely come back home from school."
The Daily Star yesterday made a number of random calls to different houses and got similar replies.