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6 days of waste

Jamaat's 3-day hartal links weekend, holiday; uncertainty over JSC exams

Staff Correspondent
Protesting the capital punishment of its chief, the Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday called two countrywide hartals for three days which will virtually put the country on a six-day hiatus from today.
In the first phase, the party will enforce a 24-hour shutdown from 6:00am today. The 48-hour last bout of hartal will start at 6:00am on Sunday and end at 6:00am on Tuesday.
There are two weekends (Friday and Saturday) in between the hartals. Also, the holy Ashura falls on Tuesday, which will be a public holiday.
A key component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, Jamaat announced the hartal through issuing a release just 38 minutes after an international crimes tribunal handed the punishment to its Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
The strikes will cause suffering to people, especially to over 2.09 million students who are scheduled to take the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) exams from November 2.
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The class eight students and their guardians were in the dark yesterday as the education ministry did not confirm whether the November 2 (Sunday) exams will be held or not.
Talking to The Daily Star, Monoz Kumar Adhikari, father of a JSC examinee of Morgapara High School in Sonargaon, said: "We're unsure about Sunday's exams as the school authority couldn't tell us anything about it. It would be really unfortunate if my daughter can't take the very first exam."
Briefing reporters at his secretariat office, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said all preparations have been completed for holding the JSC and JDC exams smoothly. He hoped that no political party would declare any programmes that might hamper the exams.
Wishing anonymity, a high official in the ministry said the November 2 exams are likely to be deferred at the last moment.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in a statement yesterday urged the Jamaat to withdraw its hartals.
The apex trade body said industrial production, supply chains and educational activities will be badly affected due to the strikes. Besides, the workers who live from hand to mouth will have
to pay dearly.
After the nine-day blockade and hartals from January 1 to 9, people had been almost free from such suffering. The Jamaat in last nine months enforced three-day hartal on two occasions. Besides, its associated student body Islami Chhatra Shibir, the BNP-led 20-party alliance and Sammilito Islami Dalsomuho enforced daylong hartals on August 31, September 22 and 26 on different grounds.
JAMAAT PROTESTS
Police yesterday detained over 130 Jamaat-Shibir men across the country when they tried to hold rallies and bring out processions protesting the verdict, reports our correspondents.
Among them, 49 were rounded up in Satkhira, 13 in Jhenidah, 10 in Chittagong, four in Rajshahi, three in Comilla and two in Gaibandha.
Agitators vandalised at least 30 vehicles at Court Point and Bandar Bazar areas in Sylhet city after a chase and counter-chase took place between ruling Awami League men and Jamaat-Shibir activists around 1:00pm. Police fired blank shots to disperse the troublemakers.
In Chapainawabganj, at least 15 people including two cops were injured when Jamaat-Shibir men clashed with police at Shibganj bazar area in the town around 4:00pm.
The injured cops are Motiur Rahman, additional superintendent of
police (Sadar circle); and Ashiqur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Shibganj Police Station. Law enforcers fired around 10 shots and several teargas shells during the clash.
Clashes between Jamaat-Shibir men and cops were also reported in Rajshahi.
AL CHEERS, BNP MUM
Expressing satisfaction over yesterday's
verdict by the tribunal, the ruling AL leaders hoped that the highest punishment would also be meted out to all other war crimes accused. They pledged to resist Jamaat's three-day
hartal by taking to the streets.
Food Minister Quamrul Islam said the verdict against Nizami proved that there had been no secret compromise between the government and Jamaat. AL activists in the capital distributed sweetmeats among fellow party men to welcome the judgment.
Hailing the verdict, the AL, its front organisations and different freedom fighters' platforms brought out processions across the country, including in Santhia upazila of Pabna, the ancestral home of Nizami; Bagerhat, Bogra, Sylhet and Satkhira.
The BNP, however, kept mum over the judgment as it did on previous occasions of verdict delivery in cases of crimes against humanity. Party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and joint secretary general Rizvi Ahmed denied making any comment.
BUSTORCHED
A bus was torched in the capital's Jatrabari last evening.
Aboni Shankar Kar, OC of Jatrabari Police Station, said criminals set ablaze the Dhaka-bound bus from Monohardi ofNarsingdi near the Kajla petrol pump around 8:20pm.
None was injured in the incident as all the passengers managed to get off the vehicle.
Two fire-fighting units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence doused the flames after around forty minutes.