News on hartal extension fake: Hefazat

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh on Sunday afternoon said the news on extension of its ongoing countrywide hartal is not true.

"The news of extending hartal is a rumour, and completely fake," the organization's central assistant publicity secretary Mawlana Md Faisal told Jago News.

Mentioning that today's hartal is being held peacefully, he said the party has no plan to extend the programme as Shab-e-Barat will be observed in the country on Monday.

"As Shab-e-Barat tomorrow, that is why the hartal has, for the time being, not been extended, and even we've no plan to prolong it," he added.

A rumour spread this afternoon that Hefazat-e-Islam's hartal has been extended for 24 more hours.

The Qawmi madrasa based organization called a dawn to dusk hartal on Sunday alleging attacks on their leaders and activists by the ruling party men and police on Friday's demonstrations against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh.

A few leaders and activists of Hefazat were killed in Friday's protests, and in protests against the incident, several more died in different districts, including Brahmanbaria. Casualties have been reported in today's hartal programme, too.

TT/SU