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Series agitation from Sunday

Decides BNP-led alliance: no trace of Ilias yet

Rakib Hasnet Suman
The BNP-led 18-party alliance last night decided to go for a non-stop agitation from Sunday, if the government fails to find missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali by Saturday, the deadline given by the main opposition.
During a meeting, the alliance also agreed in principle that the movement should finally turn into a one-point movement to oust the government.
Last night's meeting was convened to discuss the alliance's next course of action regarding mounting pressure on the government to find Ilias. There the alliance leaders urged BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to continue with hartal, or else, what they opined, the agitation would lose momentum.
Khaleda, also the leader of the opposition, may announce hartal for an indefinite period on Saturday.
"I had a plan to wait for at least six months before going for a series of hartals, but the government has forced us to do that now," alliance leaders quoted Khaleda as saying in the meeting.
As per the decision of the meeting, the upcoming hartals would be enforced during the day so that people can do their urgents in the evening.
However, no programme will be observed on May Day [Tuesday] and weekends,
said a number of alliance leaders after the meeting.
Khaleda presided over the meeting that continued until 10:10pm from 8:40pm at her Gulshan office.
She asked her alliance partners to be prepared for a tough time and to take to the streets ignoring all obstructions by the government, said meeting sources.
"I am serious. The government must return Ilias, otherwise we won't remain silent. They [govt] will have to pay if they fail to understand my words. The ongoing movement will turn into a one-point movement to oust the government," she said.
Since the disappearance, Khaleda have been accusing the government of abduction while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina termed it a planned drama by Khaleda.
BNP organising secretary and former lawmaker Ilias Ali along with his driver Ansar Ali went missing around midnight of April 17 from the capital's Banani area.
To mount pressure on the government to find the two, BNP observed dawn-to-dusk
hartal for three consecutive days from April 22. OnTUesday, Khaleda issued the government a four-day ultimatum to find Ilias and his driver and threatened of tougher movementotherwise.
Meanwhile, nine days into the disappearance, law enforcement agencies are still in the dark about Ihas and his driver's whereabouts.
All this time police and Rab have conducted several search operations in and around Dhaka in vain.
"The entire country will burn if the government fails to return Ilias and his driver by Saturday. The government will not be able to douse the fire," BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a programme at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday.
Contacted, police and Rab yesterday said they were doing everything to find the two.
“We've interrogated several suspects in this connection but to no avail. However, we're trying our best," Mahbubur Rahman, deputy commissioner of detective police, told The
DailyStar.
He added they had examined the call list of Ilias Ali's mobile phone but found no clue.
Asked about Khaleda's allegation that Rab was behind Ilias' disappearance, Rab chief Mokhlesur Rahman said, "She has the liberty to make any comments but we're not involved in it. We're rather trying our best to rescue him.”
Talking to The Daily Star, Rab's legal and media wing Director Commander M Sohail said they had made several raids in and outside the capital but saw no success. “Our efforts are on," he said.
On Tuesday, however, State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku claimed to have made some “progress" in the search.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the cabinet meeting yesterday directed Home Minister Shahara Khatun to rescue Ilias Ali at any cost.
“We don't want the opposition to make an issue out of this," Hasina was quoted by a meeting source.