Dhaka, July 5 -- The BNP on Friday extended its moral support to a half-day hartal to be enforced across the country on July 7 protesting against the gas price hike.

The decision was taken at a meeting of BNP standing committee members at the party chief's Gulshan office.

"We're extending moral support to the July 7 hartal called by LDA's parties," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters.

He said the BNP thinks the hartal was called for a valid reason as gas price hike has affected the people.

On Sunday, the government announced to raise the average gas price by 32.8 percent for the retail consumers effective from Monday.

As per the new price, household consumers having single burner will have to pay Tk925 a ...