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Menacing hartal and trade

Menacing hartal and trade

| | 27 May 2013, 10:59 am
Hartal and hartal and hartal. How many of such hartals will take place? Last Tuesday marked the end of 36 hour hartal enforced by the BNP led 18 Party Allaince. 14 hartals have been enforced in the country since February last. Hartals marked by violence were the norm. There were more than 40 incidents of vandalization and attacks on train during the hartal. More than 700 buses were set on fire. Hartals enforced by Jamaat were characterized by loss of life in violence, cocktail explosion, vandalism, arson and all-encompassing sabotage that include burning national flag, desecration of Shaheed Minars and attacks on minority. In the hartal jointly organized by BNP and Jamaat violence claimed more than 100 lives. Some law enforcers also lost life.

 Hartal is a democratic means of protest. But enforcing hartal with hired goons or intimidating people to take part in it can not yield the desired result. Other than death, injury and damage to public and private property, loss to national economy and confrontational politics characterized by intolerance and violence, nothing else has been achieved. Can such hartal bring down a democratically elected government? Hartals to be meaningful need to be spontaneous with public participation, and without use of muscle power. Hartals that we have witnessed now are nothing but the outcome of political bankruptcy and there was no public support.

 

Each day of hartal means a loss of Tk one thousand crore. The way number of hartals are increasing is causing grave concern. Hartal casts negative impact on the country’s economy as it affects garments sector, fertilizer, industry, agriculture, tourism, housing and even poor daily wage earners. Production and supply also are jeopardized.

 

But a section of people are thriving because of hartal trade. Event Management, a recently developed trade, is generating huge funds capitalizing on hartal. The main task of these agencies is to supply manpower for any event. According to a recent survey these agencies are making huge money by supplying field level workers and arms required to enforce hartal. These agencies charge Tk 15 thousand for torching each vehicle, Tk 5 thousand for vandalizing and Tk 100 for each field worker taking part in procession for a single day of hartal. For this the agencies also charge Tk 30 per head as commission. The agencies charge extra if the hired processionists are required to carry arms during procession. Recently during a demonstration organized near White House in Washington processionists were hired at $250/300 per head. This trade is well paid and less risky. If they fail to carry out any specific task given to them they return the money.

 

Recently a survey was conducted to gather information about ‘hartal trade’.On condition of anonymity one such event management agency disclosed details of this new trade along with its different paraphernalia. Asked to name persons who paid for torching vehicles the agency refused to answer saying it was trade secret. One thing has become clear from this survey. These agencies do not work for any particular political party and operate on ‘first come, first served’ basis.

 

Before removing fish plate from near Kulaura station in Maulavi Bazar did the BNP / Jamaat ever think what could have happened if the Upavan Express ran in its usual speed. Luckily only seven coaches derailed and there was no casualty. But thousands of innocent rail travelers could have lost their lives. What would have been the benefit for BNP or Jamaat if thousands get killed in accidents? Does democracy justify this wanton act of violence? Should a poor country like Bangladesh not declare hartal unlawful as it serves no national interests and blocks the country’s economic progress?