Once again 2-day transport strike called ahead of BNP's Barishal rally

Bus owners of Barishal division on Wednesday called a two-day transport strike on 4-5 November, demanding that local passenger vehicles and other three-wheelers be kept off the highway.

The announcement came at a time when the BNP is scheduled to hold its fourth divisional rally there on 5 November.

Earlier, a similar transport strike was called in Mymensingh and Khulna before the BNP's mass rallies.

Golam Mashrek Bablu, president of Barishal District Bus Owners Group, said a memorandum demanding the prohibition of three-wheelers on the highway has been handed to the local administration.

"If the demand is not met by 3 November, bus services of six districts of the division will be stopped on 4 and 5 November," he added.

However, he denied any link between their movement and an already announced divisional rally by the BNP.

The owners' association claimed that the BNP rally had nothing to do with the bus strike's decision in Barishal. 

Another leader of the association, Kishore Kumar De, also said, "We do not know whether the BNP is holding a rally or when."

BNP leaders alleged that the government is forcing bus owners to go on a strike to disrupt the rally. The previous transport strikes blocked off key routes to the Mymensingh and Khulna cities for party workers, which also affected common people.

BNP's Barishal Divisional Organising Secretary Bilkis Akhter Jahan Shirin asked, "Why should they stop bus movements on 4 and 5 November? These conspiracies are aimed at ensuring that no one can come to the BNP rally on November 5."

Barisal Metropolitan BNP convener Moniruzzaman Khan said, "We have heard that an application has been made to stop the movement of buses. We had guessed that it would be done because the government wanted to thwart the public gatherings by causing such shameful incidents in Chattogram, Mymensingh and lastly in Khulna."

This illegal government has even set a rare precedent of suspending operations of launches, trains, hired minibus, motorcycles, rickshaws, battery-powered vehicles and even cars. But the people cannot be stopped, he noted.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan BNP has applied to the district commissioner for permission to hold the rally at Bangabandhu Udyan in Barisal. But no decision regarding the application was made by the administration till Wednesday afternoon. 

Before this, communication was cut off at the Khulna and Mymensingh mass gatherings. But Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and other ruling party leaders denied this allegation. The BNP has repeatedly complained that these acts are being resorted to on the government's instructions.

About the strike, Barisal Divisional Commissioner (Additional Secretary) Amin ul Ahsan said, "We have received such a letter. There is a directive from the High Court and the government in this regard. Accordingly, we will take action and ensure that effective steps will be taken to stop these vehicles."

Blocking rallies of opposition parties not new 

After liberation, when the Awami League was in power, there were allegations of the obstruction of the rallies of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and other opposition parties in a similar way.

Subsequently, there were numerous allegations of gatherings by opposition parties being blocked by the Ziaur Rahman and Hossain Mohammad Ershad regimes.

Similar conditions prevailed when, after the fall of the Ershad government, the BNP came to power in 1991. Allegations of the opposition being prevented from holding rallies were made. There was no exception to this tradition during the rule of the Awami League from 1996 to 2001.

Then, from 2001 to 2006, when the BNP was in government, bus movements used to be stopped like this when the Awami League organised its programmes in 2005 and 2006. There were also allegations of arrests and attacks to prevent opposition leaders and workers from coming to rallies. That old pattern remains.

The leaders of the Awami League complained at the time. Now the leaders of opposition political parties, including the BNP-Jamaat, are making similar complaints of obstruction.