Three buses torched in Dhaka ahead of hartal

Unidentified miscreants set three buses on fire at Gulistan, Taltola and on Mayor Hanif Flyover in the capital on Saturday evening, ahead of the 48-hour countrywide hartal called by the BNP and its allies to protest the announcement of the national polls schedule by the Election Commission on November 15.

In Gulistan: Talha Bin Zashim, station officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (media cell), miscreants set the bus of ‘Komol Parinbahan’ on fire in front of Gulistan Toll Plaza around 7:48 pm.

Being informed two units of firefighters from Siddique Bazar Fire Station rushed to the spot to douse the fire, he said.

In Taltola: Arsonists set the of ‘Bihanga Paribahan’ on fire at Taltola under Kafrul police station in the capital around 6:45 pm, Saturday.

Local people doused the blaze before fire engines reached the spot, said Fire Service and Civil Defence control room duty officer Anisur Rahman.

Another bus was torched on Mayor Hanif Flyover at around 8pm. responding the call, firefighters also rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control.

After the fifth spell of countrywide blockade ended on Thursday, the BNP, Jamaat, and like-minded opposition parties called for the 48-hour hartal beginning on Sunday morning, rejecting the poll schedule.

The shutdown will begin at 6am on Sunday and will end at 6am on Tuesday, to mount pressure on the government to step down, hand over power to a neutral government, and release all the arrested BNP leaders and activists, including its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.