The Jamaat-e-Islami has deferred Monday's countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal to Thursday citing Biswa Ijtema and Saraswati Puja.

The second phase of Biswa Ijtema that began on Friday is scheduled to conclude on Sunday afternoon through Akheri Munajat (concluding prayers) while the puja will be celebrated on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Jamaat's key ally BNP in the 19-party alliance has not yet decided whether to extend its support to the hartal, said BNP office secretary Rizvi Ahmed yesterday.

In a statement, Jamaat acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman said the party would enforce the shutdown on Thursday instead of Monday so that the devotees joining the Ijtema could smoothly return to their destinations and the Hindu community could observe the Puja.

It, however, will stage peaceful demonstrations across the country on Monday protesting what the party says is the government's conspiracy to kill Jamaat ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami.

The hartal was called on Friday in protest at the death penalty of Nizami in the 10-truck arms haul case.

A Chittagong court on Thursday handed down the capital punishment on 14 people, including ex-ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Nizami and former top intelligence officials, for smuggling 10 truckloads of arms into the port city in 2004 in the last BNP-led government's tenure.

The 14 convicts were also given life sentences for possessing illegal firearms and ammunition in another case filed over the arms haul.