Hartal lifted, but not at one go

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The Savar tragedy took place around 8:45am yesterday but the BNP-led 18-party alliance withdrew its countrywide hartal in three stages starting at 11:00am and ending at 3:30pm, triggering criticism.

The opposition alliance withdrew the shutdown at Savar at 11:00am, in Dhaka district and city at 2:15pm and across the country at 3:30pm.

This left the family members and relatives of those killed or wounded in the disaster, who are from different parts of the country, all the more anxious. The stage-by-stage withdrawal prevented them from rushing to the scene.

The alliance’s 36-hour hartal — from Monday morning to 6:00pm yesterday — was called to protest refusal of bail to detained top BNP leaders.

BNP standing committee member MK Anwar announced withdrawal of the hartal in Dhaka district and city at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

He accused Jubo League leader and owner of the building that collapsed, and owners of the garments factories housed in it, of allowing workers to enter the factories during hartal hours.

The owners did it to show the workers joined duty defying the opposition-enforced hartal, said Anwar, also a BNP lawmaker.

Asked about the delay in withdrawing the shutdown, he said initially they did not know the magnitude of the tragedy. “In the morning, we did not know that so many people died and many more were still trapped inside the building.

“Besides, it [hartal] was an 18-party alliance programme. We were engaged in discussions with the allies about withdrawing it.”

At press briefings at the same venue, BNP chairperson’s adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu announced withdrawal of the hartal at Savar at 11:00am and across the country at 3:30pm.

Faced with a volley of questions, he said they came to know from television reports yesterday morning that two to three people were injured in the incident.