"Why will we not call hartal? If we don't get justice, hartal is a must," the Awami League (AL) chief told a function organised to distribute prizes among the winners of a children's drawing competition on the premises of the Bangabandhu Museum, marking Bangabandhu's birth anniversary.

Hasina said Advocate Khorshed Alam Bachchu was gunned down in broad daylight, but the government could not arrest the killers. "Doesn't it mean the government has hands behind the killing?"

She urged people to observe today's hartal to protest the political killings

The opposition leader also criticised the government for "resorting to repression on women" during the anti-government protests and hartals. "Being linked with Jamaat, BNP has intensified its torture on women," she said.

Rejecting the government's claim of improving the law and order, Hasina said Rab, Cobra and Cheeta were raised by spending crores of taka, but innocent people like Mafizul Islam Dud Mia, a leader of Meghna upazila Awami League, were killed.

Hasina accused the government of preparing a list of AL leaders and workers and handing it over to Rab for killing them in 'crossfire'. She called for protecting the country and the people from the "misrule of the alliance government."

Hasina, who distributed awards among the winners of the children's drawing competition, said the new generation must know the true history of Bangladesh.

Prof Salahuddin Ahmed presided over the function.