DHAKA: Bangladesh was largely paralysed on Thursday by a nationwide general strike called by the opposition as part of a fresh campaign to oust the ruling Islamist-allied government.
Cars and buses were off the roads and schools and shops and private offices in major cities were closed, police said. Transport to the main Chittagong seaport was cut off as no inter-regional buses or trucks moved.
But barring some sporadic clashes between police and demonstrators, the strike was peaceful across the country, police and officials said.
The general strike was part of a protest campaign announced on Tuesday by a 14-party alliance led by the main opposition Awami League, aimed at forcing out the four-party government.
The opposition accuses the government, led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, of fostering the rise of hardline Islamists. Bangladesh has been shaken recently by a spate of blasts and killings blamed on extremists who are seeking to impose strict religious law on the Muslim-majority nation.
The government, which has a hefty majority in parliament and whose mandate runs out in late 2006, says it is doing everything in its power to crack down on Islamic radicals.
The strike followed a rally on Tuesday in Dhaka that drew at least 100,000 demonstrators urging the government to “quit now”.
“We’ve deployed over 9,000 troops in the city’s main centres and in the industrial areas to keep things peaceful,” Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner Mizanur Rahman said. There were no reports of violence.
Analysts and businesses warned that continued strikes would deal a blow to the economy, already shaken by a big increase in global oil and commodity prices, as the government battles a rising Islamic insurgency in the country.
Bangladesh was rocked by a series of nationwide blasts in August and October as well as deadly bomb campaigns targeting judges and courts.
At least seven people were killed, including two judges, and more than 100 people were injured in the blasts linked to outlawed militant groups, who are waging a bloody campaign to impose Islamic law in the country.
“The strike came at a time when the countrymen are worried at the alarming rise of terrorist groups in the country,” said the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mir Nasiruddin.
He said the country cannot afford these costly strikes given that inflation is hovering around 7%.
“Security has emerged as the biggest concern for the economy. Both the government and opposition should sit together in this time of crisis instead of fighting on the streets,” stock analyst Yawar Sayeed said.
In the southeastern city of Chittagong several ships anchored at the port but there were no container movements, police said.
But in the southern district of Khulna, home to some of the country’s biggest state-owned jute and paper mills, there was little disruption.
“The mills are open and train and ferry services have been uninterrupted. Only the shops and markets did not open and the inter-district bus service has been affected,” said Khulna metropolitan police commissioner Khan Sayeed Hassan.
The strike is the 17th this year called by opposition parties.
Last year the Awami League and its allies called more than 20 shutdowns, despite pleas from aid donors and business groups who say the strikes cost the impoverished nation’s economy tens of millions of dollars annually. - AFP |
