AL enforces 8-hr hartal tomorrow

The shutdown from 6:00am to 2:00pm coincides with the build-up to tabling of the national budget in parliament that will resume its session at 3:00pm Thursday.

The decision on hartal came at a joint meeting of the AL presidium and the secretariat at the party's Dhanmondi office last night, with Acting President of the party Zillur Rahman in the chair.

The call for hartal has nothing to do with the 2003-04 budget, AL Organising Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury told The Daily Star last night. "That's (budget) a separate issue. We don't want to prejudge anything. We may opt for another programme later."

The hartal came on the heels of the recent killing of its former lawmaker and Natore district unit leader Mamtaz Uddin and attacks on former whip and party lawmaker Mujibul Haq in Comilla.

The AL sources said the government cleared 53,405 alleged criminals of charges, putting life at risk. People are helpless, as the government failed to provide security to people and murder and rape have become prevalent, the AL deplored.

The shutdown has come at a time when the AL lawmakers decided to hold off participating in the sittings of the budget session.

AL President Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to return home from abroad on June 14 and chair a meeting of the AL Parliamentary Party to decide whether or not to join the rest of the budget session of the Jatiya Sangsad.