Dhaka: Two people were killed and several injured while clashes erupted across Bangladesh as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its rightwing allies enforced a 60-hour nationwide general strike demanding an amended electoral system for upcoming polls, due in January, 2014.
Police and reports said opposition activists hacked to death a ruling Awami League supporter in western Jessore while a BNP worker was killed in shootouts with police in neighbouring Faridpur while arson and blasts in the capital and other cities marked the initial hours of the shutdown.
“Some 11 vehicles were set on fire at different parts of the (Dhaka) city since the morning,” a police spokesman told newsmen while elite anti-crime Tapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) enforced in intensified vigil in the capital and other major cities.
Earlier in an apparent pre-strike actions suspected opposition activists exploded bombs in front of houses of several ministers, the chief election commissioner and two TV channels injuring several including two journalists.
Doctors said one of the journalists was struggling for life with critical wounds at the combined military hospital in Dhaka cantonment.
The strike came as overnight telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia for nearly 40 minutes visibly could make little headway in easing escalated tensions.
The premier last night invited Zia for talks over dinner this evening at her official residence postponing the strike while the opposition leader said the dialogue can be held after the hartal (shutdown) strike.
“We will hold talks but cannot withdraw the hartal,” Zia’s press secretary Maruf Kamal Sohel quoted her as telling the premier.
Zia on Friday issued a two-day deadline saying “we give you (Hasina) two days time (and) unless you take steps for dialogue within the period, a 60 hour hartal will be observed across the country from October 27”.
The two leaders eventfully talked ahead of the expiry of the deadline hours after Hasina’s abortive attempt to reach her archrival by red phone while the opposition leaders said the special phone was out of order.
But the strike call sparked mixed reactions among the media, civil society figures and foreign development partners with many calling it a “breach of commitment” on the part of the opposition even after initiatives were taken for the dialogue.
UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has said the BNP should have responded positively to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s invitation to start a dialogue to end the deadlock.
“The opposition should take the offer since only talks can end the current political impasse,” Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to UN AK Abdul Momen quoted the UN official as saying in New York.
Zia on Friday said the government would turn “illegal” from the date as a 90-day constitutional countdown for the elections would begin, a comment that sparked massive controversy as she also asked public servants including police to defy government orders from the date.
“This government will be illegal from October 27. So, do not cooperate with it. Cooperating with an illegal government is also an illegal act and unconstitutional,” she said.
In an instant response to the opposition stance, Awami League spokesman Mohammad Nasim sharply criticised Zia for “opting for confrontation” and asked her to withdraw the strike call but said the premier would call her any time.
Nasim questioned how Zia could declare the government illegal from October 27 or October 25 as she claimed earlier, saying according to the constitution and peoples mandate the tenure of the ruling Awami League in office would expire on January 25, 2014.
“This is a highly provocative (comment) . . . why or how the government will become illegal when the constitution fixed its tenure until January 24, 2014,” fellow ruling party stalwart Tofail Ahmed told a TV channel.
The opposition leader earlier on Monday floated a visibly complicated counter proposal on formation of a polls time non-party caretaker government rejecting a proposal by Hasina for all-party government for election oversight within the constitutional framework.
The opposition leader suggested that both the parties would each chose five people to constitute the proposed interim government from among the 20 former advisers of the past two non-party caretaker governments which oversaw the 1996 and 2001 general elections installing respectively the Awami League and BNP to power.
The premier’s proposal did not mention who would head the poll time interim government though the government leaders said she was supposed to continue as the prime minister while Zia said a person who would be “most acceptable” to both the two sides would head the election time government instead of the incumbent premier.
BNP leaders, however, hinted that their main concern was who would head the poll time government as they feared the elections with Hasina being the premier would not be credible. The government is yet to formally respond to the opposition proposal but the premier and her party leaders called Zia’s proposition “impractical”.
