Hasina leads massive procession

Bangladesh opposition leader Sheikh Hasina yesterday led a massive anti-government demonstration in Dhaka and told the people that the present tyrannical and autocratic government had lost every right to stay in power.

She charged the coalition government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, which took over less than a year ago, with "misrule, corruption, terrorism and failure on all fronts".

"If the government does not stop killing, repression and extortion and fails to improve law and order, the people will be compelled to start an oust-government movement," the Awami League chief told a huge rally at the historic Paltan Maidan before the mass procession.

The opposition Awami League organised the procession as part of its demonstration-day programme with a host of demands, including the stoppage of killing, rape, extortion and repression, and control over law and order and rising prices of essentials.

This was the first ever street agitation by the opposition Awami League against the 10-month-old government that finally ended peacefully.

As the present government has imposed restrictions on street agitations, there had been growing apprehension that the procession could be obstructed, triggering violence in the city.

At the Paltan rally, the opposition leader announced that if the procession was intercepted, a strike would instantly be called for on August 29.

But the procession that traversed several kilometres did not face any obstruction from the police.

Police in riot gear were posted at different points along the route of the procession, while others guarded the marchers from the front and the rear, virtually containing the demonstrators within a cul-de-sac.

Processions of Awami League workers joined the Paltan rally chanting anti-government slogans, finally joining the big procession led by the party president.

Hasina joined the rally and delivered a 20-minute speech before leading the mass procession, sounding a note of warning that if the procession was obstructed, the home minister and the government would be held responsible.

She said her party believes in peaceful demonstrations, which is the constitutional right of the people. "If this right is curtailed, we'll be forced to announce a general strike and other programmes against this government."

The opposition leader observed that the people had already become intolerant of "the misrule, corruption, torture and terrorism sponsored by the ruling party".

"This government has failed to ensure minimum security of public life. Rather, it has created indiscipline in every sphere of life," she told her audience, adding that the people did not want to see this government in power any more.

In just ten months of rule, she alleged, the coalition government had created a total anarchic situation in the country. "It seems that there is no government in the country."