Miscreants on Saturday set a passenger bus on fire in Dhaka's Gulistan on the eve of the 48-hour countrywide hartal called to protest the announcement of the national polls schedule by the Election Commission on November 15.
The attack on the “KomolParinbahan” bus in front of Gulistan Toll Plaza was reported around 7:48 pm on Saturday, confirmed Talha Bin Zashim, station officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (media cell).
Responding to the call, two firefighting units from Siddique Bazar Fire Station rushed to the spot to douse the fire, he said.
After the fifth spell of countrywide blockade ended on Thursday, the BNP, Jamaat, and like-minded opposition parties called for the 48-hour hartal beginning on Sunday morning, rejecting the poll schedule.
The shutdown, which will begin at 6:00 am on Sunday and end at 6am on Tuesday, is meant to mount pressure on the government to step down, hand over power to a neutral government, and release all the arrested BNP leaders and activists, including its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
