The present government is set to cope with the first strike (hartal) on September 14 (Monday) since it assumed office in January as the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday called a half-day strike in the capital on that day.

The committee declared the programme while marching towardsd the Prime Minister's Office from Muktangan in protest at the police action on its procession on September 2. The police interrupted them near Shahbagh at around 12:30pm yesterday. The committee, led by its convener Engineer AKM Shahidullah, also announced a demonstration programme across the country on the day of hartal and also decided to "lay siege to the deputy commissioner's office in Dhaka".

The Workers Party (WP), an ally of Awami League-lead grand alliance, which also works together with the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, did not support the half-day strike. The organisation has been launching different programmes to protect local resources and to keep the natural assets within the country. Recently, the government awarded Ireland-based company Tullow Bangladesh, shallow water block SS-08-05 and US oil company Conoco Phillips South Asia New Ventures Ltd deep-sea blocks DS-08-10 and 11 in the Bay of Bengal for oil and gas exploration.

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports have been pressing for scrapping the government decision to lease out offshore gas blocks to foreign companies. bdnews24.com adds: Government spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said those who called hartal on September 14 on the excuse of protecting the country are instead trying to harm the country.

The minister's comment came after the National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas Mineral Resources, Power and Ports yesterday called a half-day hartal from 6am in Dhaka for September 14. Ashraf, the local government minister, said, "The government is doing everything in a transparent manner. The government's initiative to explore gas and oil is to meet the country's demand, not to export, not to provide anyone with any extra facility."
Patience should be exercised by all sides, he said.

-The Independent

Half-day hartal Monday

The New Age: The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports on Thursday called a half-day hartal in the city for Monday to press the government to scrap its decision to award three gas blocks to international oil companies allowing gas export.

This will be the first general strike in the country since the Awami League-led alliance government took office in January. Committee convener Sheikh Mohammed Shaheedullah announced the 6:00am to noon general strike at a rally at Muktangan at midday, before starting a march towards the Prime Minister’s Office demanding cancellation of the decision to keep export provision in the production sharing contracts. He warned that the committee would go for tougher programmes if the government did not drop the plan immediately.

The organisation also announced countrywide demonstrations and siege of the offices of the deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers on September 14. After the rally, several hundred leaders and activists of the committee and different left-leaning political, cultural and social organisations started a march towards the Prime Minister’s Office at Tejgaon but they were intercepted by police in front of Shishu Park at Shahbagh.

The activists held an impromptu protest rally at Shahbagh before going back to Paltan in a procession. They chanted slogans denouncing the government’s move. Before concluding the day’s programme, Shaheedullah read out a written speech of the member-secretary of the committee, professor Anu Muhmmad urging the government not to sign the model production sharing contract with the IOCs.

Anu is recovering from injuries he sustained in the police attack on a protest march in the city on September 2. ‘We must establish our rights offshore in the Bay and we must protect our natural resources for domestic uses,’ Anu said. He also called on all political parties, social organisations as well as general people to be united against the government’s move to lease out the offshore blocks.

Anu Muhammad, who teaches economics at Jahangirnagar University, was injured along with 50 others in the capital on September 2 when police charged into protesters marching towards the Petrobangla headquarters. The national committee is campaigning against the government’s decision as it feared such moves would allow gas export threatening the country’s energy security.

The energy authorities recently decided not to allow any new gas connections since the country was facing gas shortages of up to 250 million cubic feet per day. At the Muktangon rally, prior to the march, Workers Party of Bangladesh general secretary Bimal Biswas said that the people would protect the country’s natural resources with their lives.

‘Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has recommended the leasing process to satisfy imperialist America,’ he said. Central committee member of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, MM Akash said that the Awami League government was serving the interests of the rich as it had taken the decision to award the blocks without informing the people. Convener of the Jatiya Gana Front, Tipu Biwas said that the national committee would enforce tougher programmes to compel the government to refrain from signing the deal.

Workers Party (reconstituted) convener Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Afzal, Revolutionary Workers Party general secretary Saiful Huq, professor Pias Karim of BRAC university, professor Mesbah Kamal, Ganatantrik Majdur Party president Abdus Salam, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal central leader Bazlur Rashid Firoj, Democratic Revolutionary Party general secretary Mushrefa Mishu, National Awami Party central leader Ismail Hossain, Samyabadi Dal central leader Harun Chowdhury and Ganasanghati Andolan coordinator Zonayed Saki attended the rally, coordinated by CPB leader Ruhin Hossain Prince.