BNP's 48-hour blockade underway

A two-day nationwide blockade called by the BNP to protest the announcement of the national polls schedule by the Election Commission on November 15 is underway.

The BNP called for the strike on Sunday (November 19) and Monday (November 20).

There were reports of buses being torched in the capital ahead of the hartal. The law enforcement agencies have taken preparations to keep the situation under control on Sunday and Monday.

After the fifth spell of countrywide blockade ended on Thursday, the BNP, Jamaat, and like-minded opposition parties called for the 48-hour hartal beginning on Sunday morning, rejecting the poll schedule.

The shutdown, which will begin at 6:00 am on Sunday and end at 6am on Tuesday, is meant to mount pressure on the government to step down, hand over power to a neutral government, and release all the arrested BNP leaders and activists, including its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

/KN/