AL on alert as BNP, opposition parties to stage sit-in showdown today
The ruling Awami will also take to the streets to face the opposition movement
BNP and some other opposition parties are all set to show their strength with large-scale gatherings in their mass sit-in programmes in 10 divisional cities, including Dhaka, across the country today.
The ruling Awami League will also take to the streets to face the opposition movement.
The BNP has been allowed to hold the protests for four hours on a few conditions, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (Media) Faruq Hossain confirmed to The Business Standard.
The decision came after a meeting between a BNP delegation, led by its Vice-Chairman AZM Zahid Hossain, and DMP Commissioner Md Golam Faruq at the DMP headquarters in the capital yesterday evening.
"The programmes must be peaceful, otherwise the police will take their course of action," AKM Hafiz Akter, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told TBS.
Another police official from Sylhet division, wishing to remain unnamed, told TBS that they have been asked to remain alert over the opposition movement. "Following the instruction, we have called additional forces from different units to prevent any untoward situation," he added.
On vehicular movement in the capital amid the protests, DMP Additional Commissioner (Traffic) Md Munibur Rahman said they have no specific traffic diversion or directives for the commuters.
"We have heard that they [opposition parties] wouldn't block roads, so people will not suffer hopefully," he said and added that additional traffic personnel will be deployed to keep traffic movement normal.
BNP leaders said their activists have gained more confidence after the 24 and 30 December simultaneous mass rallies, in which most opposition parties took part. They also believe that their anti-government movement advances in the right direction.
"We have completed all preparations. Leaders from different levels reached venues," Syed Emran Saleh Prince, acting office secretary of BNP, told The Business Standard. "We do not want conflict but we will protect ourselves if Awami League attacks us," he added.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who was released from jail on Monday, and other senior leaders are expected to join the Dhaka sit-in programme to be held from 11am to 3pm in front of the BNP Office at Nayapaltan. Similar programmes will also be arranged in 9 other divisional cities at the same time.
The BNP is leading the simultaneous anti-government movement with a 27-point demand. It is likely to announce new programmes today for 16 January.
Meanwhile, Awami League leaders said they will take to the streets to keep an eye on the opposition movement and prevent any anarchic situation. "Awami League is ready to give a befitting reply to any violence in the name of a movement," General Secretary of the party Obaidul Quader said.
"Didn't we face the 10 December programme [of the BNP]? The Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now much more united," he said after paying tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi-32.
Party insiders said the Dhaka North unit of the Awami League will organise a peace rally on the Eidgah Field of Mirpur on the day, while the Dhaka South unit will hold a day-long sit-in programme on the 23 Bangabandhu Avenue starting at 10am.
Obaidul Quader and other senior party leaders are expected to attend both programmes.
Some 33 political parties and different professional bodies, including the Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad and the Youth Forum, are also making all-out preparations to take to the streets on the day. Among them, the seven-party alliance Ganatantra Mancha will arrange their sit-in protest in front of the National Press Club in the capital, the twelve-party alliance in front of the Bijoynagar Water Tank, the nationalist like-minded twelve-party alliance at Purana Paltan.
The Gano Forum will hold its programme at Arambagh and the Liberal Democratic Party at East Panthapath.
Jamaat-e-Islami said it will observe "Democracy Killing Day" by arranging discussion programmes in all the cities on Wednesday. "On 11 January 2007, an undemocratic government occupied the state in the name of state emergency, marking a major disruption in the democratic system of the country," Acting Secretary General of the party ATM Masum said in a statement.
"The nation wants emancipation from the apolitical and undemocratic atmosphere created in the country through One-Eleven. To get rid of this situation and restore democracy, a caretaker government is a must now," he added.