Tuesday, April 29th, 2008Top business leaders of the country yesterday urged the caretaker government to make sure before the next general election that the political forces which will come to power through polls will not allow hartal or closure of ports in any situation.The business community leaders also unanimously suggested lifting the state of emergency as soon as possible.And some of them proposed a ban on student politics as well as teachers politics for long for what they said is in the greater interest of the country.The business bigwigs came up with these suggestions at a meeting with four advisers of the caretaker ...
(read more) Thursday, January 11th, 2007Vowing to resist the 'one-sided' January 22 polls at any cost, Awami League (AL)-led grand alliance leader Sheikh Hasina yesterday announced fresh agitation programmes that include non-stop siege of the Bangabhaban, four-day blockade and two-day hartal."The Bangabhaban will be besieged for an indefinite period from January 14 and countrywide blockade will be enforced on January 14-15 and 17-18. If the processes of holding the one-sided election on January 22 is not stopped despite these programmes, hartal will be enforced on January 21 and 22," Hasina said at a grand rally at Paltan Maidan in the capital.The AL chief, flanked by ...
(read more) Wednesday, January 10th, 2007Some 5,000 'O' and 'A' level examinees sit their exams beginning from today with fears that they might not be able to attend all of them, as the exams might coincide with the political programmes like blockades or hartal. Although exams are kept outside the purview of blockade, many O and A level examinees expressed their concern over not being able to attend the exams that will continue till 29th. These exams will be held simultaneously at different exam centres of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi along with the rest of the world.Examinees fear that they will face serious troubles ...
(read more) Friday, December 29th, 2006Fierce clashes between police and activists of Awami League-led grand alliance marked the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the alliance in Rangpur and Lalmonirhat districts yesterday while the hartal in Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts passed off almost peacefully. Half-day hartal was also observed at Sylhet-3 and Habiganj-3 constituencies.At least 100 people including police, activists and leaders of the grand alliance and journalists were injured in a series of clashes at different places in Rangpur town during the hartal hours, reports our Rangpur correspondent.The grand alliance called the hartal yesterday to protest the cancellation of nomination papers of Jatiya ...
(read more) Friday, December 22nd, 2006For the first time since restoration of democracy through a mass upsurge in 1990, the government that too a caretaker one yesterday employed the army to tackle political demonstrations in the city and elsewhere in the country. Deployed on December 9 following a unilateral decision of President and Chief Adviser (CA) Iajuddin Ahmed, the armed forces swung into action to disperse the pickets in Dhaka yesterday.The troops chased off supporters of the 14-party combine and its allies as the latter clashed with the police, damaged a couple of vehicles and set fire to another car in Shyamoli in the ...
(read more) Friday, December 22nd, 2006The army was used for the first time since HM Ershad's military regime to prevent picketing in the capital and Narayanganj during yesterday's hartal enforced by the Awami League (AL) led grand alliance, first of its kind during any caretaker government's tenure.More than 100 persons were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) during the hartal in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.The army, along with the police, chased pickets at Shyamoli and patrolled different streets in the city while they took position at several points on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Narayanganj.The police fired rubber bullets ...
(read more) Sunday, October 15th, 2006Sramik Karmachari Oikyo Parishad (Skop) will enforce 24-hour countrywide strike today demanding implementation of different agreements in various industries in the country including readymade garment (RMG), sugar, jute, railways and water transport sectors.Skop has made preparations to blockade the highways, railways and waterways for four hours today from 8:00am to 12:00 noon.Meanwhile, Garments Sramik O Shilpa Rokkhya Jatiya Mancha at a press conference yesterday expressed their solidarity with today's strike and withdrew the 24-hour strike called for tomorrow.Skop's demands also include stop denationalisation, eradication of injustice in different pay commissions and revision of the labour law as per the ILO ...
(read more) Friday, September 22nd, 2006Police in riot gears resorted to indiscriminate clubbing to disperse the Awami League (AL)-led 14-party opposition demonstrators in the capital yesterday during the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal that left some 80 wounded in the capital and in Netrokona.Every single attempt by the opposition workers to bring out processions amid heavy rainfall during the 12-hour shutdown was met with tough police actions leaving Swechchhasebak League President AFM Bahauddin Nasim, General Secretary Pankaj Debnath, Organising Secretary Shohel Hazari and assistant secretary of AL's sub-committee Mrinal Kanti Das, severely injured among others.Meanwhile, some 21 opposition workers were wounded in police baton charges and ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 13th, 2006District Awami League (AL) units in Pabna and Nilphamari yesterday called half-day hartal for today in the districts protesting police assaults on their local lawmakers Mohammad Nasim and Asaduzzaman Noor during the opposition's siege of Prime Minister's Office in the capital.Our correspondent in Pabna reports: Pabna district AL at an urgent meeting yesterday evening announced the hartal from 6:00am to 12noon today.A protest rally was brought out yesterday evening in support of today's hartal.Pabna district AL Secretary Samsul Haque Tuku, Vice-President Abul Kalam Azad Babu, Joint-Secretary Abu Isahaq Shamim addressed the rally, among others.Our correspondent in Nilphamari writes: As soon ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 13th, 2006A cab driver, badly burned during the opposition's hartal on Sunday, has been fighting for his life in Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).Abdul Malek, 27, resident of Jasim Uddin Road in Uttara, is now undergoing treatment at the Burns and Plastic Surgery unit of the hospital with appalling burns all over his body.His family is struggling to bear the medical expenses. The black cab that was the only source of income for the nine-member family, went up in flames as the pickets on Sunday set fire to it during hartal hours in the city."I was returning from Pagla ...
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