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60-hour Hartal from Tomorrow

Exams, business in tatters

BNP agrees to unconditional talks, say business leaders

Staff Correspondent
Taking no heed of the plea of two million Junior School Certificate and Junior Dakhil Certificate examinees, the BNP-led 18-party alliance yesterday called a 60-hour countrywide hartal from tomorrow morning.
In a span of seven days, this would be the second long shutdown by the opposition combine pressing for a non-party caretaker government to oversee the next national polls.
Around 20 lakh schoolchildren are set to take the junior and Dakhil exams starting tomorrow. The hartal, to be enforced from 6:00am Monday to 6:00pm Wednesday, coincides with four exams in two days.
Besides, the country's business and economic sectors, especially the garment industries, are in for a huge setback due to the hartal, not to mention the sufferings of the common people.
It is the peak season for production in the readymade garment factories, and owners are worried about how they would cope with the situation.
This is the peak time for making shipments of readymade garment items for the Christmas season. Late shipment means either cancellation of orders, or expensive air shipment, or discount to buyers," BGMEA President Atiqul Islam told The Daily Star.
If the shipment is transported by air, garment makers will lose competitiveness in business, he added.
Amid concern about tomorrow's exams, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said his ministry will come up with a decision today.
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After holding a meeting at his Minto Road residence with some officials concerned, the minister blasted the opposition for their hartal programme, saying that such a political programme is against education, which he thought is "tantamount to crimes against humanity."
"The hartal will severely affect 20 lakh children, who are all set to take the junior certificate and Dakhil exams,” mentioned Nahid. He urged the opposition alliance to withdraw the hartal.
Following widespread criticism from different quarters about hartals coinciding with exams, it was expected that the opposition would keep all the examinations out of the purview of its shutdown.
But yesterday, at the general secretary-level meeting of the 18-party combine at BNP chairperson's Gulshan office, none of the opposition leaders raised the issue, meeting sources said.
At a press conference there after the meeting, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the hartal programme.
Vehicles carrying media personnel, hajj is and emergency service providers will remain out of the purview of the shutdown, he mentioned.
Asked if the JSC and JDC exams will remain out of the purview of the hartal, Fakhrul said, "We've clearly stated about what will remain out of the purview of the shutdown. We'll inform you later if there is any change to it."
The government will have to take the responsibility for any bad consequences arising from obstacles to peaceful observance of the three-day shutdown, he warned. Delayed announcement by hartal enforcers of keeping exams out of the purview of shutdowns often brings no benefit for the students as it was in the case of O and A-level examinees last week.
The 18-party alliance on October 27 announced that all exams will remain out of the purview of its 60-hour hartal (October 27-29).
But the authorities, however, had already postponed the O and A-level tests on six subjects scheduled for October 28 in two shifts.
The O and A-level examinees for the October-November session under the CIE Board are also worried if any of their exams coincide with any future hartal in this month as the exams will
end on November 29.
Following suggestions by some top alliance leaders, BNP chief Khaleda Zia changed her party’s earlier decision to enforce a three-day countrywide blockade from tomorrow. But the main opposition party did not accept the suggestion of its allies to keep the JSC and JDC exams out of the purview of the hartal, said BNP sources.
The last countrywide hartal (October 27-29) claimed 14 lives, raising the number of deaths to 259 so far in 2013 from political violence, according to statistics ofThe Daily Star. Besides, miscreants attacked 19 newsmen before and during the 60-hour hartal. They also exploded crude bombs in front of at least four media houses in the capital.
KHALEDAAGREES TO TALKS BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia last night agreed to a secretary generallevel dialogue on polls-time government with the ruling Awami League without any precondition, said FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed.
He was briefing reporters after a meeting with the BNP chief for about three hours at the latter's Gulshan office in the city.
‘They [BNP-led 18-party alliance] have proposed a neutral caretaker government, while the
government has suggested an all-party polls-time government. Given the situation, we have suggested the BNP chief open a dialogue between the two secretary generals without any precondition, which she |Khaleda] has welcomed, " mentioned Akram.
“We've got a positive response from the BNP. Now we will convey this message to the prime minister [Sheikh Hasina| for holding talks to resolve the present political stalemate," he added.
Akram led a 50-member delegation of businessmen to the meeting, which included chiefs of BGMEA, BKMEA, BTMA, DCCI, MCCI, WCCI and former chiefs of FBCCI, among others.
BNP chairperson's adviser Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury, who was present at the meeting, said his party hoped that the FBCCI initiative would create a favourable atmosphere for opening the dialogue.
Asked if the BNP chief had agreed to unconditional talks, Khashru said the opposition was optimistic that the two sides would discuss the caretaker government issue in any probable dialogue as it is the expectation of 90 percent people.
Requested by business leaders for withdrawing the 60-hour hartal from Monday, Khaleda said she had no alternative to hartal as the government was resorting to wholesale arrests of BNP leaders.
NO HARTAL DURING EXAMS
Eminent educationists and former advisers to caretaker governments yesterday urged BNP leaders not to enforce hartal during the JSC and JDC exams.
In a statement issued under the banner of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), they expressed concern over the repeated hartals being enforced by opposition parties during different examinations.
The examinees are passing their days in extreme anxiety due to the prevailing uncertain situation in the country, read the statement.
Among the signatories to the statement are educationists Prof Anisuzzaman, Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam, Prof Nazrul Islam, former advisers to caretaker governments M Hafiz Uddin and Rasheda K Chowdhury, and Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation.