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| Wednesday, 25 August 2004 |
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Bangladesh braces for more violence as protest strike begins DHAKA, Tuesday (AFP,Rueters) Bangladesh braced for more political violence Tuesday as a nationwide strike called by the main opposition to protest a deadly grenade attack on a party rally threatened to bring the country to a halt. Police, some armed, and paramilitaries patrolled the tense capital Dhaka at the start of the two-day general strike. Private cars were off the road and shops closed. "Extra police have been drafted in from other districts to help prevent violence and we have deployed units at all key places in the city," Dhaka Superintendent of Police Bakhtiar Alam told AFP. Tuesday's strike, a common form of protest in Bangladesh, is the fifteenth called by the main opposition Awami League party since February. An armed forces spokesman said a senior female member of the Awami League injured in the blasts had died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 20. Hundreds were injured, some seriously, in Saturday's grenade attack. Opposition officials have described the assault as an attempt to assassinate party leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, a former prime minister. Her car was fired on as she was rushed away from the scene by aides and bodyguards, one of whom was killed. Violence and spontaneous strikes broke out nationwide Sunday in protest at the blasts, which have been condemned internationally. Meanwhile The death toll rose to 19 on Tuesday after one of the wounded died in hospital and police recovered the charred body of another man from a railway coach that protesters set ablaze following Saturday's attack. The Awami League said fundamentalists linked to the government had tried to kill Hasina, the main rival of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, and demanded Khaleda's immediate resignation. The government has asked the opposition to help a high-powered judicial investigation that Khaleda has set up to find and punish the real culprits. "Let us not blame each other for the most unfortunate incident that occurred at the Awami League rally on Saturday, but let us unite and help investigators bring the culprits to book," said Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, secretary-general of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Police on Tuesday said they were under orders to "prevent violence under any pretext". "The country is passing through a volatile situation and we cannot just sit back and watch if there will be further violence," said a police official, who asked not to be named. Transport operators said no buses were on the the highways linking Dhaka to other districts but trains and ferries were expected to operate with fewer passengers than normal. The strike would likely disrupt work at the country's main Chittagong port, port officials said . Awami general secretary Abdul Jalil said the dawn-to-dusk strike his party called for Tuesday and Wednesday was intended to "register highest indignation over the attempt to kill Hasina and protest against the government's utter failure to protect even the key personalities". "This explains how insecure the people of Bangladesh are today," he told Reuters. |
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