The BNP defers hartal to Tuesday in honour of late Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf

The BNP has deferred its dawn-to-dusk hartal schedule by a day from Monday to Tuesday to honour the memory of the late Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

"The hartal declared by the BNP, its allies and like-minded parties will be scheduled from dawn to dusk on Tuesday as a national day of mourning was declared to honour the death of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah of Kuwait on Monday," said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at an emergency briefing on Sunday.

Emir Sheikh Nawaf died on Saturday at 86, according to the royal court. Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 83, who has been Kuwait's de facto ruler since 2021, was named his successor.

In response to the emir's death, Bangladesh's government declared a day of mourning on Monday.

On Saturday, the BNP had called a hartal from dawn to dusk for Monday as the opposition party sought to strengthen its antigovernment protests with the Jan 7 general election approaching.

The opposition party and its allies have been holding a series of shutdowns and transport blockades across the country to demand the replacement of the Awami League government, the establishment of an election-time caretaker administration, and the unconditional release of its Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other party activists and leaders.