Bomb blasts and arrests marked an opposition-called general strike in
Bangladesh on Thursday in protest of a court order jailing 33 of the
alliance’s leaders.
No injuries were reported from several crude bombs that exploded in
Dhaka. Schools and businesses were shut in the capital, and public
life was disrupted in other major cities and towns during the
shutdown. The United News of Bangladesh agency said police arrested at
least 17 activists in Dhaka.
ATN Bangla television station said more than 100 opposition supporters
were arrested in various districts.
General strikes are common opposition tactics in Bangladesh, a fragile
parliamentary democracy, to embarrass the government.
A court on Wednesday had denied bail to 33 opposition leaders charged
with involvement in an arson attack during a strike last month. The
defendants include former Cabinet ministers and the acting secretary
general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime
Minister Khaleda Zia. It heads the 18-party opposition alliance.
General strikes are common opposition tactics in Bangladesh, a fragile
parliamentary democracy, to embarrass the government.
The opposition says the arson charge is politically motivated and the
bail rejection is aimed at suppressing the opposition movement.
On Thursday,
A top business leader urged political parties to avoid confrontation.
A.K. Azad, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce
and Industries, in a pre-budget discussion in Dhaka asked Finance
Minister A.M.A. Muhith to resolve the disputes in consultation with
the prime minister.
“We all know confrontational political programs like general strikes
largely affect the country’s economy. We do not want such programs,”
he said.
Zia’s party, meanwhile, announced in a statement that a two-hour token
hunger strike protest by opposition lawmakers will be held on the
parliament building premises on Saturday to demand release of the
leaders.
The opposition also set a June 10 ultimatum for the government to
restore a caretaker government system to oversee the next national
elections, due in 2014. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government
scrapped the 15-year-old system last year in what the opposition says
was part of a plan to rig the elections.
On Thursday, police cordoned off the headquarters of BNP and scuffled
with those who tried to enter. Witnesses say Khairul Kabir Khokon,
education affairs secretary of the party, was arrested.
Bangladeshi politics is facing a crucial moment. Once again, behind
the scenes non-democratic forces are posturing under the name of the
“third force”. The third force is making a thrust because the people
are frustrated by political decisions made by both the government and
the major opposition party. The people are caught between the
proverbial “rock and a hard place”.
