B'desh polls chief to step aside

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's disputed election chief is set to step aside and put an end to the political crisis paralysing the country, media reports said.

The English language Daily Star said in a front page report that M.A. Aziz, whom the opposition accuse of trying to rig next January's general elections, "with all probability may either go on leave until the elections are over or resign in a couple of days".

The paper said the chief election commissioner had hinted to a delegation of interim cabinet members who visited him Monday that he was likely to go on extended leave to perform the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia next month.

"The commissioner is learnt to have agreed to proceed on leave in the face of mounting agitation across the country for his resignation," the Bangladesh Today daily also reported.

Aziz has been at the centre of a crisis that has seen opposition protests and transport blockades bring the nation to a standstill.

The main opposition Awami League has vowed to continue with its protests until he is removed.

But so far Aziz has steadfastly refused to step down despite the crisis, which is costing Bangladesh's garment industry - a mainstay of the impoverished country's economy - an estimated 74 million dollars a day.

The opposition has threatened to boycott the January elections unless Aziz is sacked. It accuses him of seeking to influence the polls in favour of the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government by drawing up a voter list with 10 million fake voters.

Interim cabinet member Mahbubul Alam told reporters late Monday he expected the row to be resolved within 48 hours.

"We finally see light at the end of the tunnel. We hope we will get a result within the next 24 to 48 hours," he said.

Meanwhile violent clashes left dozens of people injured and at least two demonstrators dead in Bangladesh during a crippling nationwide strike over election reforms.

The violence continued Tuesday despite an interim government's pledge that it was nearing a solution to the impasse over election commissioners, installed by the former prime minister. A 14-party alliance says the commissioners are biased.

Armed partisans of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia attacked a procession of former supporters who broke away to form a new party, said Mohammad Ali, a spokesman for the breakaway faction.

A statement issued by Zia's party denied responsibility for the attack.

Two supporters of the breakaway Liberal Democratic Party were badly beaten and died later in a state-run hospital in Chittagong, southeast of the capital, Dhaka, said a doctor there, Ajoy Deb.

The Liberal Democratic Party is not part of the 14-party alliance led by Sheikh Hasina, but has extended support for the strikes.

The attack in Chittagong left 25 people hurt, including four policemen, as rival activists fought with rocks and sticks.

In Bogra, north of Dhaka, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a fight between rival supporters that injured about 25 people, the domestic United News of Bangladesh news agency said.

In Dhaka, supporters and opponents of the strike briefly clashed at the Dhaka University campus, ATN Bangla network reported.

At least three homemade bombs - explosives in small tin pots - went off during the melee. No one was hurt.

Dhaka, Wednesday, AFP, AP