An email from AUW security:
"Dear All,
It is for your kind information and required action please. Today 28 February 2013, the political agitation went bad due to Hartal. As a follow up of today's situation, agitated political party has called upon 02 days continuous 48 hour Hartal on 3rd and 4th March 2013. Beside this Hartal announcement there is a previously declared "agitation demonstration" on tomorrow 01 March 2013 after 1 pm.
Situation:
1. Tomorrow is Friday and political group has announced agitation demonstration throughout the country which may lead to hostility.
2. Sunday 03 Feb 2013 and Monday 04 Feb 2013 are called Hartal for spontaneous 48 hours.
Suggestion: Keeping in mind the previous Friday incident and recent style of demonstration, following are to be adhere for safety and security for the student, faculty and staff.
a. Tomorrow Friday 01 March 2013; Student should not remain out side of AUW after 1300 hours (01pm).
b. During 48 hour Hartal on 04 March 2013 and 05 March 2013, day scholars students should be escorted by their Father or Mother while coming at AUW and going back to their home. Other students will not be allowed to go out of AUW campus.
c. For other staff and faculty, separate instruction will be issued about their movement.
All members of AUW are requested to remain alert on moving outside of their home. We will keep you informed through mail and text messages, when ever it will be necessary.
Thank you for your kind cooperation."
Pretty much every week since winter break ended, like clockwork, a hartal has been called in Bangladesh by one of the political parties. What this means is that businesses and offices shut down, transportation stops (except those ever-industrious rickshaw drivers!), and on many occasions there are protests. Most are peaceful - but for the last week things have been heating up, with some violence occurring in Chittagong yesterday. It's all related to a war crimes tribunal that's currently deciding the fates of people convicted of war crimes in the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence.
CNN has a story here and my lieblings newspaper has a story here.
And The Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper, probably has the most up-to-date information (at least for us English speakers).
I want to emphasize that I personally have not witnessed any violence, and I am totally safe. There have not been protests in my neighborhood, and AUW is absolutely capable of protecting its faculty. They keep us well-informed about what we should do. We usually still hold classes on hartal days, and AUW sends a van for us at 6:30am (hartals are usually dawn to dusk). We then return home via van at nighttime when the hartal is over. Some days I've skipped the early morning van to rickshaw in to school later, and the streets between my apartment and AUW have been totally fine, even peaceful and pleasant without the usual cacophony assaulting my ears. Definitely not looking forward to the continuous 48-hour hartal on Sunday and Monday, though! We haven't had one of those before.
I went to the grocery store this morning to stock up - could be a long time before I see the sun again. Due to the called "agitation demonstration" today I will have to remain inside my apartment from 1pm until...who knows? Luckily I have nice roommates to keep me company, a good book to read, graduate schools to obsess over, and several recipes I want to try :)
"Dear All,
It is for your kind information and required action please. Today 28 February 2013, the political agitation went bad due to Hartal. As a follow up of today's situation, agitated political party has called upon 02 days continuous 48 hour Hartal on 3rd and 4th March 2013. Beside this Hartal announcement there is a previously declared "agitation demonstration" on tomorrow 01 March 2013 after 1 pm.
Situation:
1. Tomorrow is Friday and political group has announced agitation demonstration throughout the country which may lead to hostility.
2. Sunday 03 Feb 2013 and Monday 04 Feb 2013 are called Hartal for spontaneous 48 hours.
Suggestion: Keeping in mind the previous Friday incident and recent style of demonstration, following are to be adhere for safety and security for the student, faculty and staff.
a. Tomorrow Friday 01 March 2013; Student should not remain out side of AUW after 1300 hours (01pm).
b. During 48 hour Hartal on 04 March 2013 and 05 March 2013, day scholars students should be escorted by their Father or Mother while coming at AUW and going back to their home. Other students will not be allowed to go out of AUW campus.
c. For other staff and faculty, separate instruction will be issued about their movement.
All members of AUW are requested to remain alert on moving outside of their home. We will keep you informed through mail and text messages, when ever it will be necessary.
Thank you for your kind cooperation."
Pretty much every week since winter break ended, like clockwork, a hartal has been called in Bangladesh by one of the political parties. What this means is that businesses and offices shut down, transportation stops (except those ever-industrious rickshaw drivers!), and on many occasions there are protests. Most are peaceful - but for the last week things have been heating up, with some violence occurring in Chittagong yesterday. It's all related to a war crimes tribunal that's currently deciding the fates of people convicted of war crimes in the 1971 Bangladesh war of independence.
CNN has a story here and my lieblings newspaper has a story here.
And The Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper, probably has the most up-to-date information (at least for us English speakers).
I want to emphasize that I personally have not witnessed any violence, and I am totally safe. There have not been protests in my neighborhood, and AUW is absolutely capable of protecting its faculty. They keep us well-informed about what we should do. We usually still hold classes on hartal days, and AUW sends a van for us at 6:30am (hartals are usually dawn to dusk). We then return home via van at nighttime when the hartal is over. Some days I've skipped the early morning van to rickshaw in to school later, and the streets between my apartment and AUW have been totally fine, even peaceful and pleasant without the usual cacophony assaulting my ears. Definitely not looking forward to the continuous 48-hour hartal on Sunday and Monday, though! We haven't had one of those before.
I went to the grocery store this morning to stock up - could be a long time before I see the sun again. Due to the called "agitation demonstration" today I will have to remain inside my apartment from 1pm until...who knows? Luckily I have nice roommates to keep me company, a good book to read, graduate schools to obsess over, and several recipes I want to try :)
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