Bangladesh: Sit-in protest continues in Dhaka, causing widespread inconvenience to public

Dhaka: Several protesters in Bangladesh continued their sit-in demonstration at Shahbagh in the capital on Friday, triggering massive traffic snarls and causing inconvenience to the residents in the area and surrounding parts, local media reported.

The sit-in began on Thursday morning with protesters raising slogans “July niye talbahana, cholbe na, cholbe na” (No more delay on July) and “July sanad dite hobe, dite hobe” (The July Charter must be declared), demanding an immediate implementation of the July charter.

“We will not leave the streets until our demands are fulfilled,” Bangladeshi media outlet UNB quoted one of the protesters as saying.

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Citing eyewitnesses, local media reported several hundred demonstrators had blocked the intersection in the capital, bringing vehicular movement to a standstill as they called on the National Consensus Commission (NCC) of Bangladesh to finalise the July Charter.

“I went to Jatrabari in the morning for official work, but later learned about the Shahbagh blockade through social media. Fearing heavy traffic, I boarded a bus that takes a route via Basabo, Kamalapur, and Malibagh — but the roads were still jam-packed. When I finally reached Karwan Bazar. I realised the journey had taken me more than two and a half hours — a trip that usually takes about one and a half,” said one of the commuters.

Meanwhile, at the last day’s session of the second-round dialogues on Thursday, the NCC announced that several political parties reached an agreement on seven reform issues, including the appointment of the caretaker government chief, formation of an upper house, and election of the president. However, six of the agreements were opposed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies, local media reported.

“Today, the majority of political parties reached an agreement on seven issues, although several parties, including the BNP, expressed dissent on six of them,” Vice-President of NCC Ali Riaz said after concluding the final talks on reforms in Dhaka.

“Our target was to conclude discussions by July 31, and we have successfully done so. We will prepare the full version of the July Charter soon and share it with political parties,” he added.

Recently, several political parties of Bangladesh, including Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), and Islami Andolon, raised objections to the draft of the July Charter.

The parties, particularly opposed to the provision to implement reform proposals within two years of forming the government after the national elections, demanded that the July Charter be incorporated into a legal framework to ensure its implementation.

Last month, the second phase of discussions involving 30 political parties and the NCC was launched as political uncertainty and instability continued to grip the country.

The latest round of talks were aimed at completing the recommendations of various reform commissions set by the interim government under Muhammad Yunus and drafting the July Charter.

The parties that collaborated with the student leaders and Yunus to overthrow the democratically elected Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are now at loggerheads over major reform proposals.