political violence which has left scores of people
dead, mostly in arson attacks, and hundreds
injured since last month.
The fresh wave of violence broke out on Jan.
5
after former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s 20-
party opposition alliance had called for
countrywide nonstop blockade since Jan. 6 and
asked its supporters to take to the street for a
new election under a non- party caretaker
government system.
On top of its ongoing countrywide nonstop
blockade that entered 34th day on Sunday, Zia’s
20-party alliance has also been observing
countrywide strike at a regular intervals since
last month.
Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led
opposition alliance has called another round of
nationwide strike from Sunday morning
protesting “arrest and killing of its leaders and
activists.”
Dozens of vehicles were smashed or set on fire
in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country on the
first day of the 72-hour strike on Sunday.
With nearly a dozen deaths on Friday and
Saturday, as many as 67 people were reportedly
killed in the ongoing violence, mostly in the form
of arson attacks on cargo and passenger
vehicles.
The official death toll was not available in the
fresh wave of violence.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League
(AL) party blamed the main opposition party for
creating anarchic situation in the name of
political activities and urged opposition leader to
withdraw strike announcement.
Zia has claimed that their movement is peaceful.
Both sides are now blaming each other for the
violence.
At least seven passengers were burnt to death
and 16 others were injured on early Tuesday as
miscreants hurled a bomb at a bus full of
sleeping passengers in Bangladesh’s eastern
Comilla district.
The number of passenger journeys has fallen for
all local long route bus operators.Passengers feel
more afraid after a number of terror acts, said
an official of a long route bus company.
The official who preferred to be unnamed said
blockade has brought miseries to both the
owners and workers, but the latter are the worst
sufferers because their living was affected.
“Many have canceled their plans for winter
holidays for fear of riding buses,” he added.
People prefer staying at home instead of going
out as petrol bombs in the city had already
become a regular occurrence.
Bangladesh Police Chief AKM Shahidul Haque
Saturday asked buses owners in the country to
stop long-distance buses at night to avoid petrol
bomb attacks amid the ongoing country-wide
indefinite blockade and a series of work
stoppages.
Hasina last week ruled out the possibility of
declaring state of emergency in Bangladesh to
tackle spiraling political violence.
“No such situation has been arisen in the country
to impose state of emergency. Law enforcers are
there. They are taking all required measures to
contain violence. People are with us,” she said.
But things seem still beyond the control of her
state machinery with the incidents of arson
attacks across the country remained unabated
as of Sunday.
Zia has urged her party men to continue
blockade until the government agree to sit in a
dialogue on holding a free, fair and inclusive
election.
BNP and its allies including key Bangladesh
Jamaat-e-Islami party, which boycotted last
January parliament elections, have recently
tabled a seven-point proposal to Hasina’s
government for an immediate “inclusive general
election.”
