AL leaflets areas near rally venue

Hours before Jatiya Oikyafront's maiden rally on Registrar's office ground in Bandarbazar area, ruling Awami League men from across the city started gathering in processions at Court Point, around 100 feet away from Oikyafront's venue.

By 11:00am, the Court Point saw an assemblage of 500 AL and Chhatra League leaders and activists -- all flocked to distribute leaflets, a programme organised in an apparent bid to counter the Oikyafront rally.

Around 10 senior leaders of the party, including AL Organising Secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj, Sylhet city AL President Badruddin Ahmed Kamran, and city AL General Secretary Asaduddin Ahmed, distributed leaflets among people.

By 11:30pm, about 10,000 leaflets were distributed in the event organised by AL's Sylhet district and city units, party activists said.

The text on the leaflets, printed by central AL, called upon people to be cautious about conspiracies against the country and to vote for "boat", the AL electoral symbol.

"Remain alert about the conspiracy against the country to continue Bangladesh's progress; cooperate with leader Sheikh Hasina to build a developed and prosperous Bangladesh," was the title of the leaflet.

Under the leadership of Hasina, reads the text, the country is moving rapidly towards peace, democracy, development and progress.

But the "communal force of BNP-Jamaat" has become active once again to halt the progress, it added, urging the people to be cautious about killings, terrorism, sabotages and any anarchic activities.

After distributing the leaflets, the ruling party men held a brief rally in Chouhatta area, around half a kilometre from the Oikyafront rally venue. The programme ended around 1:30pm.

Oikyafront, the newly formed alliance of the BNP and several other parties started its rally around 2:00pm.

Tension ran high in the area after the local AL units announced the leaflet-distribution campaign in a press release on Monday. Oikyafront leaders were worried over the programme.

Half an hour after the end of the campaign in Sylhet, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader at an election rally on Tongi Government College ground said although Kamal Hossain was at the front of the alliance, Tarique Rahman was behind it.

Terming the seven-point demand of the platform "seven conspiracies", he said the conspiracies were hatched to thwart the upcoming parliamentary election.