The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Curfew relaxed for 17 hours from 6:00am to 11:00pm tonight in all the six divisional cities.

Life returns to normalcy in all the six divisional cities, including the bustling capital-Dhaka, as the Government relaxed the indefinite curfew for 14 hours yesterday from 8:00am to 10:00pm.

Although it was a weekend day, city dwellers were busy whole day, as many of the supermarkets and most shop owners opened their shuters and business transaction were almost normal.

The vehicular movement was normal and buses, cars and cycle rikshaws plied in the capital while long-route passenger buses, motor launches, to and from Dhaka and other divisional cities, had gone to those respective destinations timely. Muslim devotees said their Juma prayers at mosques of their respective localities.

Many of the industries, including garment factories, and private commercial offices functioned as workers and managers atended their offices normally during the relaxed hours. The indefinite curfew, imposed on Wednesday evening to contain the student demonstrations under the state of emergency, comes into force again from 10:00 yesterday night

The authorities relaxed curfew for an extended period of 14 hours in capital Dhaka and five other divisional cities, as there was no major untoward incident reported.

But mobile phone network again remained suspended from 6pm today. An official of GrameenPhone said the suspension was likely to continue till 10pm Friday.

In Dhaka, hundreds of thousands of city dwellers and traffic returned to streets in the capital after the curfew was lifted for 14 hours from 8am. People crowded city markets to buy essentials on the weekend while. Most shops and markets were open.

University and college students stranded by sudden closure of their dormitories rushed to bus, launch and rail stations to leave the city for their hometowns.

On Wednesday, the Government closed sine die all universities in the country and colleges of six divisional cities.

The Army-led Joint Forces picked up two senior teachers of Dhaka University and three others of Rajshahi University from their houses in separate operations conducted from midnight on Thursday to early hours yesterday.

The forces also arrested Azizul Bari Helal, who is the President of JCD, the students' wing of the BNP from Maghbazar early morning yesterday.

The arrested teachers include Dhaka University Teachers Association

(DUTA) General Secretary Prof Anwar Hossain of Biochemistry Department and Dean of Social Science Faculty Porf Harun-or-Rashid of Political Science Department, both of whom belong to the Awami League (AL).

The DUTA staged a demonstration on the DU campus last Wednesday demanding the withdrawal of the state of emergency, which was not included in the five-point charter of demands of the agitating students, and also extended support to students.

The students were about to call off their movement as all of their demands had been fulfilled by the Government the previous day. The teachers' demonstration was followed by widespread riots, organised mostly by non-students, in different parts of the capital.

The authorities imposed the curfew, closing down the institutions of higher education in divisional cities on Wednesday, to quell the three-day students' rioting, as it was spreading across the country fast

Offices of all Government, semi Government and autonomous bodies in the major cities were announced closed the following day until further order.