Dhaka: Bangladesh's main opposition party BNP on Sunday announced that it would stage non-stop sit-in protests like Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha across the country until the general election scheduled for January 5 was not scrapped.
The announcement came hours after police prevented opposition leader Khaleda Zia from leaving her house here to address a banned mass march. "We will protest (against the government's move) taking position on the roads, railways and waterways like Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha," BNP's vice-president Hafizuddin Ahmed told a press conference at the National Press Club here.
"This is not a new idea," Ahmed said referring to Gandhi who had introduced the Satyagraha or nonviolent resistance to fight colonial British regime in India. Ahmed said activists of the BNP-led 18-party alliance would gather on the roads, railways and waterways until the January 5 polls were shelved.
BNP's 'Dhaka March' will continue tomorrow, he added. "Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia will lead the demonstration." Shortly after the media briefing, police arrested Ahmed as he came out from the club. Earlier in the day, police detained Zia's advisor Enam Ahmed Chowdhury as a part of its campaign to prevent opposition activists assembly in front of the party office in Nayapaltan area.
Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam claimed that the opposition failed to rally supports for its planned march and accused Zia of "acting out a drama to go to Nayapaltan".
"You (journalists) had made serious headlines (about the march). But what happened? Nothing happened. Her (Zia's) party
leaders and activists and people didn't turn up," Islam told a media briefing. "Zia has failed again. Because this programmes
are not approved of by the people."
Meanwhile, Premier Sheikh Hasina today criticised a section of the country's "eminent citizens" who suggested that the government should defer the polls. "They (civil society) have called for halting the polls seemingly to invite unconstitutional force...whenever the unconstitutional forces assumes power the importance of theirs increases," Hasina said in a reference to military-backed regimes.
The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance is boycotting the polls and political violence during nationwide strikes and
blockades enforced by the opposition have left over 120 people dead and crippled the economy since November.
Besides the alliance, a key ally of Hasina's Awami League party has also boycotted the polls. Hasina, however, insists the vote will go ahead as planned.
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