Dhaka metropolitan city will remain out of the purview of shutdown
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the BNP, has called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Dhaka and 16 other adjoining districts for Monday protesting the confinement of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
JCD office secretary Md Abdus Sattar Patwary told the Dhaka Tribune: "The shutdown was called in 17 districts including Dhaka."
The hartal will begin at 6am and end at 5:30pm on Monday, he said.
However, the press release signed by the JCD leader said the hartal was enforced in 14 districts.
The 17 districts in Dhaka Division are Dhaka, Gazipur, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Madaripur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Netrokona, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Sherpur and Tangail.
The announcement of the shutdown came on top of the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced countrywide blockade.
The ruling Awami League is scheduled to hold a rally in the city on Monday to mark the 43rd anniversary of the historic Homecoming Day of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
BNP Chairperson and 20-party alliance chief Khaleda Zia has been confined at her Gulshan office since January 3 amid the political tension ahead of January 5.
Later, she tried to go out of the office on January 5 to join the scheduled rally, but barred. Then, she announced countrywide blockade for an indefinite period.
- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/politics/2015/jan/11/hartal-dhaka-17-districts-monday#sthash.ue6WPO4l.dpuf