The recent attacks on several AL councils at thana and district levels allegedly by the BNP prompted the AL leadership to take such a stand to ventilate its wrath against the ruling coalition.

"The government has panicked as the Awami League is steadily gaining strength by revamping its the grassroots units. If the rulers dare to use force to foil the dawn-to-dusk countrywide hartal tomorrow (today) called by our party, we'll go for continuous hartal," AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil told The Daily Star yesterday.

The AL called the hartal from a December 22 emergency meeting of the party presidium protesting what it said was the infringement of democratic and political rights of the opposition and killing of its leaders and activists by the ruling coalition loyalists.

The hartal call came earlier than initially planned in the wake of a series of attacks on the AL unit councils in Munshiganj, Noakhali, Feni, Jhenidah, Sirajganj, Bagerhat and Narayanganj.

Earlier, the AL had scheduled a 'Protest Day' for today and came up with anti-government programmes from a planned grand rally in Dhaka on January 10.

"We'll be forced to call a seven-day hartal if the ruling alliance continues to obstruct our organisational programmes. We have been exercising our political rights in a democratic manner. As the government is not allowing the Awami League to get organised by holding its councils peacefully, we'll launch an all-out anti-government movement after January 3," AL Presidium Member Kazi Jafrullah said.

Addressing an extended meeting of Awami Jubo League in the capital recently, AL President and Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina said, "They (BNP-Jamaat) are not capable of facing our party politically and ideologically. That's why they have resorted to hooliganism, creating unrest across the country," she said.

Jalil, who foresees an early changeover of power by April next year although the five-year term of the coalition government expires in 2006, hinted at a series of tough actions after January 10.

Siege to administrative buildings, railroad barricades and a shutdown of up to 96 hours are among AL's planned actions, Jalil said.

However, the government's attitude and the way it behaves with the main opposition party during the hartal will greatly influence its future course of action, some AL leaders said.