The 72-hour long countrywide blockade programme called by BNP, Jamaat and some of their like-minded parties begins today (Tuesday) amid panic in the mind of mass people due to possible violence and anarchy.
On the other hand, leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and all of its associate and affiliated bodies have been asked to remain alert and vigilant so that none could get any chance to create anarchy anywhere.
But, sources in the AL said, all the ruling party leaders and activists have also been asked to avert clashes with the BNP-Jammat leaders and activists so that they could not get any scopes of fishing in troubled water and destablise the situation.
Immediate after a daylong hartal on Sunday, the BNP, the Jamaat and some of its like-minded parties announced the blockade programmes separately with a view to forging a movement against the government and force it to form a caretaker government for holding the next general election.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi in his announcement on Sunday said the blockade programme starting from 6:00am on Tuesday will continue until November 2.
“The all-out blockades will be observed on roads, railways and waterways,” Rizvi added.
Like the BNP, Jamaat and few other parties also announced the same blockade programmes separately.
Mentionable that the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami held separate rallies in the capital’s Nayapaltan and Arambagh on Saturday and observed a countrywide hartal on Sunday.
During the programmes, several people, including a police constable, were killed and around one hundred people, including 20 journalists, were injured by the cadres of the BNP and the Jamaat. They also locked into clashes with law-enforcers, set around 40 vehicles on fire and damaged many others.
In the circumstance, a severe panic grieved the people of the country due to possibilities of violence and anarchy centring the blockade programmes like in the past.
On the other hand, the ruling Awami League (AL) and its affiliated and associated bodies have decided to remain alert and vigilant in the field averting violence with BNP and Jammat, who are believed to have been trying to destabilize the situation by creating anarchy.
These decisions came at a meeting with leaders of Awami League and its affiliated and associated organisations. Held on Monday at the AL’s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue, the meeting was also attended by the party’s elected representatives of various city corporations.
At the meeting, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said that if BNP had wanted elections, they would not have resorted to ‘acts of terrorism’.
He also ordered the party leaders and activists to remain alert and protect the country's infrastructures during the blockade called by BNP.
Obaidul Quader said, “BNP activists are now saying the one-point movement is fake. The downfall of BNP's movement started in Golapbagh.”
“Given the current state of the country, Awami League will win the next national election with a huge number of votes, for the fourth time in a row,” he added.
The BNP and Jamaat have been trying to forge a movement to force the present Awami League-led government to step down and form a caretaker government for holding the next general election.
On the other hand, the government has been rejecting the demand as the caretaker government system is not a democratic and constitutional system. Moreover, the Supreme Court in one of its verdict had rejected the Caretaker Government system terming it unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Besides, since there is a constitutional obligation to hold the next 12th General Election by January 29, the Election Commission (EC) is preparing for holding the next election in the first week of January, 2024. The EC officials said they are going to announce the election schedule in the second week of November.
