Editorial
Another senseless shutdown
A way out of this impasse imperative
With the imposition of opposition BNP-led 18-party alliance-called 36-hour nationwide hartal from today, the country has been thrown into another prolonged bout of sufferings for the public and damage to the country's economy.
The month of March has already lost more than 70 per cent of its working days to holidays and hartals, while a large part of the past two months of the current year have seen unprecedented bloody spells of violence-ridden shutdowns in the capital city and across the country.
According to an estimate, for each day \of shutdown the economy sustains a loss of more than Tk 16 billion. One need not be an Einstein to calculate the damage these shutdowns have been causing to the country's economy. And the sufferings of the working people, patients in need of treatment, businesses and the academic life of students, from schools to the universities are enormous.
The opposition BNP has stated that it has enforced this latest shutdown to press home its demands like resignation of the government, restoration of the caretaker government system and release of their party men. All of which could have been discussed in parliament.
The government hasn't, however, shown any sign of paying any attention to the opposition's demands. In consequence of their ego trips, the political crisis only deepens.
We would call for more prudence from the opposition in the selection of their agitation programmes to avoid public suffering and damage to the economy. They must look for an alternative to hartal. At the same time, the government should not provide the opposition with the reasons to call violent programmes like hartal. For instance, the government had better not taken recourse to avoidable excesses like wholesale arrest of more than 150 leaders and activists of BNP from their central office and taking most of them on remand and starting court prosecution against them.
What then remains of any consideration for an atmosphere congenial to engaging each other in a dialogue?
The country cannot allow this desperate state of affairs indefinitely. The opposition and the government must find a way out of this impasse and spare the people and the economy its debilitating consequences.
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