Call off hartal

We again appeal to the AL high command to place the welfare of the people above partisan considerations. The reasoning that the flood-hit areas have been excluded from the hartal is a ridiculous one since it is not possibly to identify such areas accurately. Moreover, fresh areas are being inundated every day. Finally, relief operations are being carried out from the unaffected places. So a strike is surely going to paralyse the operations that the victims are relying on.

The political expediency of the move is also highly questionable. What is not at all clear is how a party which claims to have a pro-people stand can call a hartal when a huge chunk of the population is grappling with a great deluge. Doesn't that negate the concern for people that the party expresses from time to time?

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Even if the custodial death of Sumon is what the AL wants to highlight through calling a hartal, it is only likely that the exercise will be a counter-productive one.

People are in a desperate situation. And it is not the time when any political party should push forward its divisive agenda that will add to the sufferings of the flood victims. The parties, regardless of their political ideology and standing, should remain united at this hour of crisis and do as much as they can to lessen the miseries of the people. Hartal is a negative political tool that should not be used even under normal circumstances. And any attempt to enforce it during a humanitarian crisis must be condemned in unequivocal terms. The AL should see reason and call off the strike.