An eight-hour hartal, called by the local unit of BNP to press for confirming the
whereabouts of the missing party leader M Ilias Ali and release of its 93 activists, is
passing off peacefully in Bishwanath upazila on Tuesday.
Sources said there was no report of untoward incident from any where during the
shutdown.
In the morning, BNP activists brought out a procession in the upazila headquarters in
support of the strike.
Present of vehicles was thin on the roads and most of the business houses kept their
shutters down.
A good number of policemen were deployed in the upazila to fend off any trouble
centering the hartal.
Ilias Ali, also a former BNP lawmaker and resident of the upazila, went missing along
with his driver after he had gone out of his Banani residence in the capital on April 17
last year (2012).
On April 23 last year, local unit BNP called another hartal in the upazila demanding
release of Ilias Ali, who is said to be forced into disappearance by government agencies.
During the hartal, three people were killed and more than 100 others, including
policemen, injured in a clash between activists of BNP and law enforcers.
Police, following the incident, filed a murder case accusing 620 people–120 of them
named and about 500 unnamed.
Among them, 93 accused, who are BNP activists, were sent to jail. –UNB, Sylhet
