<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>The BNP will enforce a daylong hartal&nbsp; across the country on Monday to protest the schedule for the next national election announced by the Election Commission (EC).</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>It will be the fourth call of hartal by the opposition party since October 29, to go with eleven blockades that have together disrupted normal life and business every week.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the fresh programme at a virtual press briefing on Saturday. The hartal will begin at 6am on Monday and end at 6pm the same day.</div><div><br></div><div>He called upon the country's people and the supporters of BNP and other opposition parties to observe the programme spontaneously to make it a success.</div><div><br></div><div>Rizvi said the fresh hartal programme is also meant to mount pressure on the government to quit, hold the next election under a non-party neutral government and release party leaders and activists, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.</div><div><br></div><div>The BNP and like-minded parties also observed a human chain programme all over the country on December 10, as a way to mark International Human Rights Day. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>