Bangladesh Govt holds crisis talks

BANGLADESH: Talks were due to resume Tuesday to end violent political protests over a Bangladesh election official accused of favouring the outgoing government as a nationwide opposition blockade entered its third day.

A caretaker government in place to organise the January polls met opposition leaders but failed to achieve a breakthrough.

The main opposition Awami League and its 13 leftist allies want chief election commissioner M.A. Aziz sacked, accusing him of making the polls a foregone conclusion by drawing up an electoral list with 10 million fake voters. "We have told the caretaker government to reconstitute the election commission.

That is our demand. We will continue our nationwide blockade," opposition alliance spokesman Abdul Jalil told reporters late Monday. The interim government was due to meet representatives of the other main parties later Tuesday including the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

One man died and dozens were injured Monday in a clash between opposition supporters and riot police in the capital Dhaka.

Thousands of opposition activists again held rallies Tuesday in the capital Dhaka and blocked highways linking the country's main cities, raising concerns about food and other supplies, police said, adding no violence was reported.

Cities were being supplied with food and other essential items through overnight deliveries, and ferries on the delta nation's many rivers were not disrupted, police added. Police and security forces were on high alert across the country in case of clashes between supporters of the Awami League and the BNP, which was also holding nationwide rallies Tuesday.

"We have deployed an additional 5,000 policemen alone in (southwestern) Khulna division to prevent any clashes between the rival parties," said divisional police chief Mohammad Mezbah-Unnabi.

Deliveries to and from the country's main southeastern Chittagong port were suspended for a third consecutive day. "It's a catastrophic situation, the port is congested with thousands of containers as we have been able to unload them from ships as there is no way we can transport them across the country," said port chairman Shahadat Hossain.

Dhaka, Tuesday, AFP