DHAKA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- "Hartal" is a term in many South Asian languages meaning strike action and is still commonly used in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.
In Bangladesh, politically hartal (literally means "locking doors") is an important and strong instrument for opposition parties or other organizations to press the government for realizing their demands.
Bangladesh's present main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the ruling party Awami league (AL), which alternated in power for more than 20 years since 1991 after the fall of military strongman HM Ershad, both have wielded hartal as a weapon when in opposition.
The party that is out of power, and so the one to call a hartal, will explain that if the government is reasonable and if demands are accepted, there would be no hartal; while the one in power will always maintain that the demands are not logical to accept.
Both the parties have called hundreds of days of hartal against each other despite sensing very well how it takes toll on the economy as well as the life of mass people.
National Standing Committee Member of the BNP, Lieutenant General Mahbubur Rahman (retired), also the former Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army, told Xinhua Tuesday his party's stance on hartal. He also explained reasons behind the recent hartals enforced by the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance.
"Bangladesh is a poor country and a poor economy. If we call hartal, the production of factories will be stopped; School-going children, daily activities, among other things, will also be stopped. For a developing country, it is not a very good news," said the senior BNP leader.
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's BNP enforced dawn-to-dusk hartals on April 22- 24 and April 29-30 to protest the "mysterious disappearance" of Elias Ali, the organizing secretary of the opposition party, who along with his driver went missing on April 17 night.
At least five people were killed in the anti-hartal violence and hundreds of people injured in a number of incidents of clashes in many parts of the South Asian country.
"The hartals, for few days we called, were all very spontaneous, successful hartals. But there were some violent incidents also. I can assure that this violence is not done by BNP cadres or BNP people. May be there are some agent provocateurs," Mahbubur said.
However, Bangladesh's economy counts a huge loss in every sector for each day hartal.
To avoid violence, economic losses and other negative effects on socio-economic life in Bangladesh on account of hartal, Mahbub said his party is also in favor of peaceful movements.
"Hartal, BNP never likes. We oppose hartal. We want to have peaceful demonstration, peaceful movement. It is the government that is forcing the party to go for hartal. But still we are trying our best not to declare hartal," Mahbubur said.
Apart from the latest hartals to press incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government to force the authorities to search for the party's organizing secretary M Ilias Ali and his driver, BNP and its allies including the key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami called a series of strikes to protest against the annulment of the caretaker government system.
Mahbubur reiterated his party's demand for restoration of the non-party caretaker system for holding a free and fair national election slated for early 2014. He also expressed his fears over the conduct of a free and fair election under a political party.
"Bangladesh is a democratic country. The bottomline of democracy is a free, fair and impartial election. But we doubt whether the election can be free and fair," Mahbubur said.
BNP has been saying that when the country's now ruling party AL was in opposition, they called hundreds of days hartal. The party said it has called only 13 days of hartal since Hasina's AL came to power in January 2009.
During hartals in Bangladesh, main streets remain almost empty. Most people prefer to stay at home to avoid any kind of violence during hartal hours.
Hartal also adversely affects national education in all levels, which results in missing classes and disrupting exams.
Most people interviewed by Xinhua during the last week in different parts of Dhaka expressed their frustration over the continued hartals and urged the opposition parties not to enforce hartals.
They suggested the political parties use alternative programmes to hartal to exercise their democratic political right for the greater interest of the country. They also urged both the ruling and opposition parties to reach consensus over the disputed issues through dialogue.
Like many others, Milon Mahmud, a university student, has expressed his frustration over call of hartals, saying this should not be the option of political movement.
"In today's world, I don't think that hartal can be the language of political protest," said young man, about 24-year old.
"We miss our classes and exams due to hartals. I am a student of post-graduate final semester. I was supposed to complete my course by June this year, but today I have come to know that I cannot complete my course by this June," Milon added.
Abu Sufian, a about 38-year old service staff, also expressed his opposition against hartal.
"I think an alternative option needs to be considered. Hartals are hampering our economic development. And we, the public, are suffering a lot," Sufian said.
As Hartal hampers both domestic and foreign investments, the business community said they always hope political parties would resort to alternative activities to hartal to avoid negative impact on the economic sector.
Although Bangladesh's Readymade Garment (RMG) industry, which contributed nearly 79 percent to Bangladesh's about 23 billion U.S. dollars export earning in 2010-l1 fiscal year (July 2010-June 2011) , is exempted from the hartal purview, sector insiders said they face serious problem in continuing their production process, as vehicles used to transport raw materials are not exempted from the hartal purview.
The transportation sector also suffers due to hartal, causing the price hike of essentials in cities and towns across Bangladesh.
Sufian, like many others who raised voice against hartal, said political parties need to look for alternatives to hartal for exercising their democratic rights.
"Both the ruling party and the main opposition party of Bangladesh should sit together around the table for discussions to resolve disputed issues," Sufian added.
Most of the local people interviewed by Xinhua believe hartal is no more an effective option in the changing political scenario of the country. They said it is driving the country to the brink of innumerable problems.
Public rally, discussions in parliament, human chain could be alternatives to hartal, they said.
Shahidullah Shadu, the leader of a transport workers'union, urged political parties not to call hartal. "They (political parties) have the right to protest. But they should choose some other ways to protest so that we can avoid the losses of life and property," Shahidullah said.
Echoing a similar view, Rahmatul Kibria, the owner of a private passenger bus company, said hartal is not a way to protest. "It affects people on both personal and national levels. Those who are calling hartal have also been affected negatively by it," Kibria said, adding "Alternative methods of protest could be effective for realizing demands. And we can avoid all sorts of losses."
Ali Kayser, a trader of live birds in Dhaka, is completely disappointed about hartal. "We can't get our products in time and fewer customers come during hartal. And I cannot also supply products to my regular customers," Kayser said.
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