After a three-month long siege, Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief returned home April 5 from her Gulshan party office. How funny that game of the government where law enforcers confined her there with sand-laden trucks. Independent observers opine it was only to harass her and subdue the movement of opposition. Khaleda Zia, the BNP chief says the blockade will continue until the movement finds its ‘logical consequences’. In Bangladesh indefinite blockade and frequent shut downs are continuing for realizing demand of inclusive national election. Meanwhile people experienced delirious acts of petrol bomb hurling on innocents in one hand, and extra-judicial killing to other, which claimed many lives. These scenarios hampered SSC examinations, normal life of commoners, and production in industrial belts. However, BNP reckoned government’s attitude to be positive when Khaleda Zia got bail and had the chance to return home safely. FBBCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed claims during the 3 month’s blockade and shut down, the losses stand at more than Tk 1.25 trillion while Premier Sheikh Hasina says in parliament that Tk 1.2 trillion have been lost due to the agitation marked by vandalism, arson and firebombing of vehicles and property. Representatives of civil society opine, as three major city corporation poll is nearing, so BNP shows its concession mood. In fact, the demand of inclusive national election is gaining ground day by day. Now, it is the government’s part whether she is ready to open dialogue to solve the remaining political impasse that is still standing.
Shamsul Basunia, Dhaka.
