BNP’s Rajshahi rally: People suffer as strike in force

Defying obstacles, BNP leaders and activists continued pouring into Rajshahi city yesterday as an indefinite transport strike came into force in the division's eight districts in the morningahead of the party's rally tomorrow.

Many BNP of them walked about 10 to 30 kilometres to reach the city.

Most of those who arrived at the city until Wednesday night stayed under the open sky at Hazrat Shah Makhdum Central Eidgah ground. Yesterday morning, local BNP men managed some tents and tarpaulin for them. The rally venue, Madrasa Maidan, is close to Eidgah.

Many opposition men were also staying at the houses of their relatives and fellow party members.

The indefinite transport strike caused sufferings to passengers in Rajshahi division's eight districts throughout the day yesterday.

Though the strike was scheduled to begin at 6:00am, most of the buses stopped plying since Wednesday evening.

Many people were seen going to Rajshahi Railway Station to take trains.

Visiting the Eidgah ground yesterday, this newspaper found that many BNP leaders and activists were resting inside tents while others cooking food.

At the Padma Garden community centre in Dargapara, BNP men were collecting lunch boxes standing in a long queue.

Saidur Rahman Bachchu, general secretary of Sirajganj District BNP, said some 5,000 party men from the district reached Rajshahi city till yesterday noon. Many of them had to walk from Puthia as police turned back their buses and trucks there, he added.

Bogura Municipality BNP Organising Secretary SM Morshedul Mithun said about 350 BNP men from the district were intercepted by police in Kamarpara of Rajshahi's Mohanupur upazila around 2:00am.

As police refused to let their trucks move forward, many BNP men walked some 30 kilometres to reach the city.

A bus carrying BNP men from Sirajganj was stopped at Baneswar around 7:30pm on Wednesday. Many of the 50 BNP men travelling on the bus went to Rajshahi walking about 18 kilometres, said party activist Rafiqul Islam.

"Facing obstacles on highways, many BNP leaders and activists from Chapainawabganj took different roads through Rajshahi's Tanore upazila to travel to the divisional city," said Shafikul Alam Samapta, convenor of Rajshahi District Krishak Dal, quoting party activists.

He said some roads in the upazila were also blocked by logs.

Jahangir Alam, a ward-level BNP leader in Raiganj upazila of Sirajganj, said police intercepted him at several points on his way to Rajshahi.

When he reached the city, he found no place to stay. Some local BNP men later showed him the way to Eidgah, he added.

Faridul Islam Khondokar of Sirajganj along with a group of BNP men came to Rajshahi on a truck hiding under a tarpaulin, fearing police would bar them from travelling. But in Puthia, police turned them away.

"We travelled about five kilometres back to an area and took a different road to Rajshahi," he said.

Mujibul Haque, a retired schoolteacher, said he had to change vehicles seven times from Naogaon's Porsha upazila on his way to Rajshahi.

BNP chairperson's adviser Mizanur Rahman Minu, also a former mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation, said those who were staying at different open fields in Rajshahi city would be taken to the madrasa ground from today.

He hoped that about 15 lakh people would gather at the rally.

Ruhul Kuddus Talukhder Dulu, BNP organising secretary for Rajshahi division, said his party was not afraid of the transport strike.

"We're worried that the police have taken a stance against the people."

He said police arrested at least 1,500 BNP men in the division's eight districts in the last couple of weeks in different cases filed under the Explosives Act and the Special Powers Act. Some 1,000 of them secured bail from the High Court, he told journalists at the Madrasa Maidan.

In Pabna, police arrested Anisul Haque Babu, a joint convener of district BNP, from his home on Wednesday night in a case filed over exploding crude bombs in front of the party office in the district.

Rafiqul Alam, additional deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said police were trying to ensure security of the people as well as of the rally-goers.

PEOPLE SUFFER

As buses and most other public transport were taken off roads during the strike, people were seen taking patients to hospitals and clinics on illegal three-wheelers due to a lack of vehicles.

Md Solaiman, a policeman, was in Rajshahi on an official visit. He said he could not return to work in Satkhira because of the bus strike.

Passengers in Natore, Bogura, Pabna, Sirajganj, Naogaon, Joypurhat and Chapainawabganj also endured similar sufferings.

Anisur Rahman said he wanted to go to Bogura's Shibganj upazila from Chapainawabganj's Sona Mosjid area. But due to the bus strike, human hauliers, locally called Nasimon, is the only transport to get there.

"My wife is ill. I am worried about her health now as she will have to ride a Nasimon," Anisur said.

Jobseekers at Bangladesh Bank were the worst sufferers in Bogura as many of them could not travel to Dhaka to sit the written test, scheduled to be held today.

Ankhinur Islam, one of the jobseekers, said she heard that buses would not operate on Bogura-Rajshahi route. "But I am surprised to see that buses on Bogura-Dhaka route are not running either."

Hasibul Islam, manager of Desh Travels in Natore, said they were returning to passengers the fares of all tickets sold for trips to Dhaka from December 1-3.

Natore Deputy Commissioner Shamim Ahmed said they were working to ease the people's sufferings through holding meetings with transport leaders.

"But the problem is yet to be solved," he said.

Anwar Ali from Rajshahi, Mostafa Sabuj from Bogura, Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu from Pabna, and Bulbul Ahamed from Natore contributed to this report.