No respite for people

Two more lives were lost yesterday, the last day of the opposition's 131-hour blockade of roads, rail and waterways, that led to clashes, arson, vandalism and blasting of crude bombs across the country.
Seventeen-year-old bus helper Hasan died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 6:50pm after suffering burn injuries from an arson attack on a bus at the capital's Sayedabad in the morning.
Rickshaw puller Mafizur Rahman, 50, succumbed to bullet wounds at Chittagong Medical College Hospital around 9:30am yesterday, two days after he was injured in a clash in Feni.
A father-of-five, Mafizur was from Dagonbhuiyan upazila of the district. He received bullets when police along with the activists of Chhatra League and Jubo League clashed with Islami Chhatra Shibir men at Silonia in Feni town around 9:30am on Monday.
With the two deaths yesterday, 24 people have so far been killed since the blockade began on Saturday.
However, there is no respite for the people as the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance yesterday called another spell of 72-hour blockade from 6:00am tomorrow.
BNP insiders said the blockade might be extended as the party mulls intensifying the agitation to press home its demands for postponement of the election schedule, forming a non-party polls-time government and release of arrested opposition leaders.
In a video message sent from an unknown location to the media, Salahuddin Ahmed, BNP spokesperson and joint secretary general, announced the fresh agitation programme. The announcement came within hours after he had threatened to launch a tougher agitation if the opposition's demands were not met by 5:00pm yesterday.
The fresh spell of blockade will again mess up the schedules of all the ongoing exams, adding to the miseries of students and their parents. Thousands of children are taking the school annual exams.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed BNP Vice-president Sadeque Hossain Khoka on a two-day remand in connection with torching a bus at Shahbagh that left three passengers dead and 16 others burned.
Law enforcers had detained Khoka at a house in the capital's Uttara on Wednesday night.
Bangladesh Bank yesterday directed all the scheduled banks to keep their branches open today.
Distribution of admission forms in government secondary schools across the country will continue on the weekend today.
VIOLENCE ACROSS COUNTRY
Blockaders blasted crude bombs at different parts in the capital. More buses plied the city thoroughfares yesterday compared to the previous five days.
In Tangail, at least 30 people, including a policeman and a journalist, were injured in a clash between the BNP men and law enforcers at Mirzapur. The clash ensued around 1:00pm when the cops barred the opposition activists from blocking the Dhaka-Tangail highway.
In Kurigram, around 20 people, including a policeman, were wounded as the opposition men clashed with cops in Chilmari upazila around 10:45am. Vandals torched a motorcycle and damaged an ambulance and two bicycles during the clash.
Rail communications between Gaibandha and the rest of the country was restored at 9:00am yesterday, 31 hours after blockaders removed fishplates there, causing derailment of Padmarag Express.
The derailment left three passengers dead. One of them was identified as Shafiqul Islam, 45, of Bejgram village in Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat.
Rail links of Rajshahi and Khulna with Dhaka was restored three hours after the uprooted rail tracks were repaired in Joypurhat yesterday.
Opposition activists hurled two crude bombs in front of the Bogra municipality in the town around 11:15am, leaving three of its employees wounded.
Stray incidents of clashes, vandalism and arson were also reported in Chittagong, Khagrachhari, Narsingdi, Jhenidah, Narail, Lalmonirhat and Narayanganj.

(Our correspondents in Tangail, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra and Feni contributed to this report)