Why this hartal?

Why? How does it serve any national purpose? How does it serve to calm the nerves of the highly disturbed population of the country? How does it help to catch the perpetrators of this dastardly act? How does it help even the opposition?

Just when the country is in desperate need of some sober counseling and farsighted leadership and just when the opposition has a golden opportunity to appear matured with the national interest as its highest objective, the AL's call for a hartal boggles the mind of every normal thinking person.

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How much more time do we need to learn the basic fact that calling for a hartal serves no purpose, not even that of hurting the government, which appears to be the opposition's only aim. It only hurts the people, not to mention the opposition, as it appears not to care about the plights of the ordinary citizens.

The countrywide bomb blasts have revealed as never before that Bangladesh faces a serious security threat. Hartals, by hurting the economy, only lessens our capacity to fight that threat. A hartal at this moment of crisis is the worst thing the opposition could have called for. Cancel it, and act with the maturity and seriousness that people expect from a party of AL's stature and public standing.