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Hartal today, tomorrow

Jamaat enforced 30 days of shutdowns over war crimes issue

Rashidul Hasan
The Jamaat-e-Islami is set to observe dawn-to-dusk hartals today and tomorrow across the country, protesting the special tribunal's death sentence to its leader ATM Azharul Islam for war crimes. The latest bout of shutdowns from 6:00am to 5:30pm will deal a heavy blow to people from all walks of life, especially students.
It might hamper the distribution of around 33 crore new textbooks among primary and secondary students on the first day of the new year.
However, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said they would stick to their plan and distribute new books among students on January 1, defying hartal.
On Monday, the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced a countrywide daylong hartal, protesting the government's "foiling" of its Gazipur rally on December 27.
The BNP-Jamaat-led combine enforced non-stop countrywide blockade from December 30 last year and hartals from January 1 this year to thwart the January 5 election. The blockade and shutdowns continued till January 9.
This time Jamaat, key component of the BNP-led alliance, alone called the hartal for its own interest - to save its leaders from war crimes trial.
Jamaat enforced 30 days of shutdowns in two years, protesting the verdicts by the two special tribunals and the Supreme Court on war crimes.
The dawn-to-dusk hartals from today will virtually put the country on a five-day vacation till January 4. The shutdowns will be followed by two weekly holidays and a public holiday on Sunday on the occasion of Eid-e-Miladunnabi.
The shutdowns will disrupt normal life and bring sufferings to people, especially the working class.
This might not be the end of people's sufferings. Many fear the political situation could deteriorate, as the two major political rivals near a faceoff centring the first anniversary of the January 5 controversial election.
The ruling Awami League came to power through the one-sided polls boycotted by the BNP and its allies.
BNP insiders said the party might call a three-day non-stop hartal if the government doesn't give them permission to hold rallies on January 3 and 5 in the capital.
Meanwhile, the AL, Gonojagoron Mancha and different organisations lauded the ICT verdict that handed down death penalty to Azharul, while the BNP remained silent about it.