& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Over 200 held as 20-party enforces hartal

Star Report
The countrywide daylong hartal, enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance in protest against the "foiling" of its Gazipur rally and demanding the release of its arrested leaders, was marked by incidents of vandalism, explosions, and sporadic clashes vesterdav. The presence of opposition leaders and activists was thin on the streets during yesterday's hartal. Police barred BNP-Jamaat activists from bringing out processions in different parts of the country.
A school teacher, however, was killed after being hit by brick chips hurled by pickets during yesterday's hartal in Noakhali. She was going to her village home in Ramgati upazila with her family members.
According to our district correspondents, police detained around 240 BNP-Jamaat men from different parts of the country on charge of their alleged involvement in subversive activities or for suspicious movement. Of them, 77 people were arrested from Pabna, 37 from Gaibandha, 26 from Comilla, 22 from Brahmanbaria and Mymensingh each and 15 from Chandpur.
A mobile court in Cox's Bazar gave six months and one month imprisonment to two Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal men on charge of picketing in the tourist city. Of the two JCD men, Mohammad Mozammel Haq is physi-
cally challenged. Tusher Ahmed, district unit BNP secretary, alleged that police without any valid ground gave them punishment.
Normal life was disrupted during yesterday's hartal. Vehicular movement was minimal on city streets while buses on long routes from Dhaka did not leave but launches and trains setoff as usual.
Office-goers had difficulty finding transport to work. CNG-run autorickshaw and rickshaw pullers, who dared to come out in city streets, charged higher fare than usual from passengers.
In the city, BNP supporters clashed with police and vandalised at least seven vehicles at Pallabi in the morning.
Four people, including three policemen, were injured in the clash near Pallabi Super Market at around 8:00am. Three crude bombs were blasted at the scene. One BNP activist, Swapan, 35, sustained rubber bullet wounds during the clash.
In Sylhet, the BNP-led 20-party alliance called a six-hour hartal in the district for today, protesting the arrest of its metropolitan unit convener
Shahriar Hossain Chowdhury during yesterday's hartal.
BNP BRIEFING
The BNP yesterday claimed that people have spontaneously observed the daylong hartal and blamed government agents for the fatal attack on a school teacher in Noakhali and other "subversive” activities during the hartal.
BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the government agents were also involved in setting fire to vehicles on the eve of hartal and put blame on them.
"The government has once again resorted to its old dirty game as it did before the January-5 election. The government with its agents is torching public vehicles to shift the blame onto the opposition," Fakhrul told reporters at a post-hartal briefing at the party's Naya Paltan central office.
He alleged that the government obstructed their peaceful programme and arrested their leaders and activists.
A total of 442 BNP men were arrested and 110 were injured in police attacks across the country during yesterday's hartal, Fakhrul claimed.