UNDP to launch report on alternative to hartal

Farid Ahmed

BDNEWS writer

Dhaka, Mar 2 (BDNEWS) – UNDP plans to launch a report on March 10 suggesting an alternative to hartal that causes huge toll to country's economic and social life.

"The report titled "Beyond Hartal: Towards Democratic Dialogue in Bangladesh" would be launched through a press conference at Hotel Sheraton on the day at 3pm," UNDP spokesperson Lisa Hiller told BDNEWS Wednesday.

The report focuses on historical context, how the idea of hartal evolves in Bangladesh as well as in the region, its impact on economy, social life, education, medicare, politics and most importantly what could be the possible alternative to hartal as a weapon of movement, she said.

The work on the report started on the much-talked-about issue since early 2003 with the help of local particular field experts who authored different chapters while the UNDP facilitated the whole process.

"None of the alternatives would be new, but they found the most possible as what could be done," Lisa Hiller, Communications Officer of UNDP Dhaka said.

UNDP arranges a consultation with political leaders from different political parties and members from the donors community on March 10 to brief them about the report before making it public to the press.

A series of consultations were also held with the political leaders, business leaders, academics, social sector representatives and donors to formulate the report as well as to make it a worthy one.

Hartal originally a Gujarati expression signifying closing down of shops and warehouses with the object of realising a demand.

Though essentially a mercantile practice, hartal acquired political significance in the 1920s and 1930s when MK Gandhi, the Indian national leader from Gujarat, institutionalised it by organising a series of anti-British general strikes by the name 'hartal'.

In Bangladesh, hartal is a constitutionally recognised political method for articulating any political demand.

In the face of recurring hartals, called mostly on the issue of legitimacy, the regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1982-1991) collapsed.

The government of Khaleda Zia was put under tremendous pressure by the calling of relentless hartals by Awami League led opposition.

Similarly, the government of Sheikh Hasina was also not free from the politics of hartal.

"Politics of hartal have been consistently looked down upon by successive ruling parties, and a large section of the public is also of the view that hartal as a political weapon, however effective it might have been during colonial times, is inconsistent in a modern national state," according to Banglapedia writer Sirajul Islam.

According to a study by journalist Ajay Roy, published from Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB), Bangladesh had to witness more than three and a half years of hartal in 30 years of the post-independence period.

Though law to slap a ban on hartal came repeatedly from different quarters including the government itself, BNP-led four-party government is apparently opposing the idea.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed on February 13 told Parliament that initiatives could be taken to enact laws to ban hartal programmes if the parliament demands, though the Supreme Court had earlier passed an order regarding the ban of hartal programme.

"Hartal should be banned in the interest of public, because destructive activities in the name of hartals cannot be accepted at all," said Moudud, who was vocal against the ban of hartal terming it as 'a violation of fundamental human rights'.

At least 48 hartals were enforced since the present government came to power in 2001.

fa/ehc/ 1620