Opposition leaders expect that around 50 lakh people will join the 1000-km human wall from Teknaf to Tentulia in their biggest ever showdown.

The 3:00pm to 4:00pm programme will be a springboard for a vigorous oust-government movement to realise their nine-point demand, the leaders said.

The human wall will touch 53 upazilas in 18 districts apart from two metropolitan cities -- Dhaka and Chittagong -- but the opposition parties also plan to mobilise their activists and people from the districts adjacent to the human wall route.

Different social, cultural and professional bodies have decided to join the human wall expressing solidarity with the opposition demands.

The programme will not hamper traffic movement as the participants will not occupy the roads and highways, opposition leaders said.

Success of the programme will pave the way for a platform of the opposition parties, they mentioned.

The AL, 11-Party alliance, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) and National Awami Party (NAP) had announced the programme simultaneously on November 18 with a common nine-point charter of demands.

Two components of the 11-Party combine -- Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (Khalequzzaman) and Krishak Sramik Samajbadi Dal -- however kept aloof from the combined anti-government movement.

TIGHT SECURITY
The government has designed unprecedented security measures to avert any 'subversive activities' during the opposition showdown.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) using three helicopters will patrol the human wall route and take video footage from the sky, the home ministry has decided.

A huge contingent of the police, paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Ansar will be deployed to thwart any attempt to create chaos during the agitation.

The government has also decided to impose a ban on the plying of motorbikes along the human wall route from 11:00am to 5:00pm today.

The home ministry decision came in the wake of intelligence reports apprehending subversive activities during the programme.

A total of 5,500 police and BDR personnel will be deployed in Dhaka and 70 teams from 1,000 intelligence personnel will keep close watch on the programme in the capital.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police sources said they will install 20 close circuit cameras at different points of the human wall route in the capital besides keeping watch from high-rises through binoculars.

Rab personnel in four helicopters yesterday rehearsed for today's security measures. They will keep vigil over the Taknaf-Tentulia human wall route to avert any untoward incidents, Rab sources said.

Opposition leaders have however brushed aside intelligence agencies' reports on possible violence and subversive activities during their programme, and said the government move in the name of security is nothing but an attempt to foil the programme.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil warned of tough opposition programmes if the government tried to thwart today's programme.

Earlier on September 22 this year, the AL-led opposition parties formed a 50-km 'human chain' from Gazipur to Narayanganj. On March 30, the AL formed a 22-km human chain from Pallabi to English Road in the capital.

People in general and the business community in particular appreciated the human chain programme as an alternative to hartal and strike.

AL sources said Leader of the Opposition and party chief Sheikh Hasina would not join today's programme due to security reasons. One source however said she might watch the human wall on Mirpur Road in Dhanmondi area for a while.

OPPOSITION PREPARATIONS
Central leaders of the opposition parties as well as their grassroots level leaders and activists made all-out efforts to mobilise public support for the human wall through a countrywide mass contact programmes including rallies, processions and campaigns with posters and leaflets.

Key leaders of the parties for the first time held joint rallies in Teknaf, Tentulia, Bogra, Comilla, Rangpur and Sitakunda in the last couple of weeks. The parties also conducted campaigns separately.

The main opposition AL sent 21 committees with central leaders to different places along the human wall route for mass contact. Separate teams of AL's front organisations also joined the campaign.

The 11-Party components including the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party and the JSD held rallies, road marches and workers' meetings.

Our staff correspondent in Rajshahi reports: A large number of indigenous people of Rajshahi Division are likely to take part in the human wall programme.

National Aborigines Council General Secretary Rabindranath Saren said about 30 thousand aborigines including women from different northern districts are expected to join the programme. "We will join the agitation to protect our existence that is at stake under the BNP- led coalition government," he said.

Many professionals like teachers and lawyers and employees of non- governmental organisations in Rajshahi said they plan to join the programme at Sirajganj and Bogra.

Rajshahi AL General Secretary Tajul Islam Md Faruk and Workers Party leader Fazle Hossain Badsha said hundreds of their party workers have already left Rajshahi to take part in the programme.

THE HUMAN WALL ROUTE
Starting from Teknaf, the human route will touch Ukhia-Ramu-Cox's Bazar-Chakoria-Lama-Lohagara-Satkania-Chandanaish-Patia-Boalkhali-Chittagong City-Sitakundu-Mirersharai-Feni-Chouddagram-Comilla-Burichang-Chandina-Daudkandi-Gazaria-Sonargaon-Araihazar-Rupganj-Siddhirganj and the capital.

In Dhaka, the route is through Mukti Sharani, Jatrabari, Sayedabad, Tikatuli, Motijheel, Hotel Purbani, Rajuk Avenue, Gulistan, Noor Hossain Square, Paltan intersection, Bijoynagar, Kakrail, Mathshaya Bhaban, Shahbagh intersection, Elephant Road, Science Laboratory intersection, Kalabagan, Russell Square, Asad Gate, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur and Gabtoli.

From Gabtoli, the human wall pass through Savar-Kaliakoir-Mirzapur-Shakhipur-Kalihati-Sirajganj-Dhunat-Bogra-Gobindaganj-Palashbari-Pirganj-Mithapukur-Rangpur-Taraganj-Saidpur-Dinajpur-Dashmail-Khanshama-Birganj-Thakurgaon-Boda-Panchagarh-Tentulia.

NINE-POINT DEMAND
The combined opposition's key demand is ouster of the coalition government and holding of a free and fair election under a non-party and neutral caretaker government after reforms in the electoral system.

Another major demand is ouster of war criminals from the cabinet and the administration to free the country from religious militant groups, ban on fundamentalist politics and trial of war criminals.

The demands include inquiry into the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally in the capital, bomb blasts at rallies of the CPB, Udichi and Chhayanaut functions, and other places, arrest and punishment of criminals involved in the Chittagong and Bogra arms hauls.

The opposition parties also demand that the government track down criminals as well as their godfathers and try them. They want expulsion of criminals from political parties.

They demand an independent anti-corruption commission to root out corruption and confiscate wealth of corrupt people, and optimum utilisation of national resources including oil and gas.

The government must check price spiral of essentials and keep the prices within the purchasing capacity of general public, reopen closed mills and factories and reduce prices of agricultural inputs, they demand.

The opposition also demands implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts peace accord.