50 days of blockade

With the extension of hartal until Friday morning, the country has reached a new record for enforcement of strikes for all working days in a month. It is unacceptable that the whole of February has been wasted in shutdown, taking a heavy toll on the nation. The political instability since Jan 5, propelled by a non-stop blockade and now hartals, has resulted in 75 deaths, of whom 55 were civilians, an estimated loss of Tk. 1,18,404 to the economy and postponement of SSC and equivalent examinations 8 times. Whatever may be the BNP's cause, it has not been helped at all by its relentless pursuit of destructive forms of protests. Hartals and oborodhs have now been reduced to deplorable acts of sabotage and violence, leading to loss of lives and maiming of thousands. And what, we ask, has the BNP gained in return, except cause prolonged misery to the people for whose sake they profess to be forging this movement? 

BNP's movement, merely given to the declaration of oborodhs and hartals from their party offices and consequent acts of violence, has failed to mobilise public support. On the contrary, it has only alienated the public. Even BNP's own activists are missing from the streets. While we understand the BNP leaders' fear of police repression, the fact remains that if they are to drive home their demands legitimately rather than through scare-tactics, they must carry out peaceful agitations that garner public support and protect public interest. 

It's high time that the BNP stops holding the country hostage and withdraws this morally and politically deplorable programme.