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BNP threat lacks power

Agitation fails to pick up desired pace for internal conflicts;Khaleda warns seniors

Rashidul Hasan and Prabir Barua Chowdhury
Though the BNP has threatened to cripple the country if the election schedule is announced, its own leaders are in doubt about how far it can go with its present organisational strength.
The party would find it very difficult to enforce a nonstop hartal or blockade due to conflicts among leaders from the top to bottom, a top BNP policymaker told The Daily Star yesterday.
Besides, the government is conspiring with the help of foreign countries to split the BNP or keep the party away from the next parliamentary election, the leader added. So, it is not possible to say anything about the success of the movement.
These days, grassroots activists are demoralised as most senior leaders stay away from the streets to avoid "police action", said party sources.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has lately expressed annoyance at her senior party colleagues' indifference to the anti-government agitations in the capital.
She has warned Dhaka city BNP Convener Sadeque 1 lossain Khoka, Member Secretary Abdus Salam and BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas.
Khoka and Abbas, both former mayors of Dhaka, have been locked in feuds over several issues, including the
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formation of Dhaka city unit, said party insiders. Both the leaders join rallies but keep themselves away from the streets.
On May 14, 2011, Khaleda formed a convening committee of the city unit, headed by Khoka. She directed it to announce the full committee within six months, but that never happened.
Frustrated at the delay, city leaders no longer feel encouraged to join agitations. If accommodated in the committee, they would have even liked courting arrest, said a party policymaker. "It's frustrating that a devoted activist who would like to sacrifice anything for the party doesn't hold any post."
BNP leaders are also unhappy with the performance of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, sources say. The student body's central and Dhaka University committees, which could have become a major force in the movement, are virtually inactive.
On Wednesday, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Chhatra Dal activists have to do much more than just vandalising one or two vehicles.
"Many of our leaders, including the JCD general secretary, are in jail. The party activists cannot stay at home at this time. They must take to the streets in their thousands," Fakhrul said during a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club.
Talking to The Daily Star, some senior leaders blamed the tough stance of law enforcers for their absence from the streets.
"Its not possible to be in the line of fire. It's too risky to be confronting police now," said a top leader of Dhaka city BNP.
At Khoka's Gulshan residence on Tuesday night, Mirza Fakhrul sat with a number of "reformist" leaders who have kept themselves from politics for the last five years. On Khaleda's instructions, Fakhrul urged them to become active again, sources say.
Also, the party's overdependence on the muscle of key ally Jamaat-e-Islami has proved counterproductive.
A city BNP leader said the party high-ups believed Jamaat would make BNP's agitation successful. But in reality, Jamaat made no significant contributions to the movement for reinstatement of the caretaker system. Rather, it keeps pressing for the release of its top leaders facing war crimes trial.
The BNP high command has conveyed its displeasure to the Jamaat policymakers about their "poor performance" during hartals in the capital.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance launched the movement after parliament scrapped the caretaker government provision through the 15th amendment in June 2011.
With the opposition maintaining it would not participate in polls if not held under a non-party administration, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has formed an interim cabinet to oversee the election.
Triggering further protests from the BNP-led alliance, Election Commissioner Shah
Nawaz said they might declare the schedule for the 10th general election by Monday.
Mirza Fakhrul at a rally in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday said, "The country would be paralysed from the very moment the [election] schedule is declared."
He announced that the opposition will stage protest rallies in thanas, upazilas and municipality areas throughout the country tomorrow.
A top BNP leader said, "To beef up the movement in the capital, BNP high-ups have divided the city into eight zones and assigned one senior leader for each."
The leaders and their areas are Goyeshwar Chandra Roy for Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, Adabor and Dhanmondi; Nazrul Islam Khan for Tejgaon and Banani; Mirza Abbas for Motijheel, Khilgaon and Sabujbagh; Khoka for Sutrapur, Bangshal and Wari; ASM I lannan Shah for Gulshan, Cantonment and Kafrul; Salauddin Ahmed for Shyampur, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Kadamtali and Demra; Barkatullah Bulu for Mirpur, and Amanullah Aman for Lalbagh, Hazaribagh and Nawabganj.
Khaleda also asked her party leaders to play their roles in the anti-government movement in their own areas if they want to contest the next parliamentary and Dhaka city corporation polls with BNP's backing.
"Those who perform satisfactorily will be awarded party nomination," a top party leader told The Daily Star yesterday.