Transport owners to defy hartal

Transport owners yesterday vowed to operate buses in the capital and adjacent areas, defying today's hartal called by Hefajat-e-Islam. 

They will operate buses on inter-district routes if there are passengers.

Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association took the decision at an emergency meeting of the association, with its general secretary Khandaker Enayet Ullah in the chair. It later issued a press statement in this regard.

Leaders urged police to take necessary security arrangements at important points of the city, so that vehicular movement would not be halted amid the hartal.

They said transport businesspeople would incur loss due to the hartal, and they do not support public suffering in the name of hartal.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad yesterday urged Hefajat-e-Islam to withdraw the hartal, as it coincides with Dol Purnima, a major religious festival of the Hindu community.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of parishad, made the appeal though a press statement yesterday. He hoped Hefajat would withdraw the hartal, considering religious sentiment of the Hindu community.