People disregard Jamaat hartal

The nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal yesterday called by Jamaat-e-Islami protesting "the government's conspiracy to kill" its ameer, Motiur Rahman Nizami, had no effect on public life.

With people defying the hartal, Jamaat even failed to get any response from people of Pabna, Nizami's hometown.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty handed down by a special tribunal in October 2014 for his war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.

All the 4,500 or so shops in Pabna remained open, said Pabna Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior Vice Chairman Mahbubul Alam Mukul.

Pabna Motor Bus Owner Samity President Baby Islam said over 70 inter-district buses left Pabna for their respective destinations and some 40 buses could not due to a shortage of passengers.

Apart from some processions and roadside meetings popping up in a few districts, no picketing and untoward incident was reported in the city and other major districts.

In the capital, vehicular movement was normal with a good number of cars, creating traffic jams at some key points including Farmgate, Motijheel and Shahbagh intersections.

Commuters were seen waiting for buses to go to their offices and other destinations while law enforcers remained deployed.

It was the same scenario in Chittagong city with a good number of business establishments beside major thoroughfares remaining open.

Loading and unloading at the port was normal and no classes at educational institutions were held.

Chittagong city, north and south district units of Sectors Commanders' Forum organised a rally in front of Dost Building at the New Market intersection protesting the hartal and demanding an immediate ban on Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir.