Bangladesh’s main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), at a mass rally in the capital yesterday set a 90-day ultimatum for the government to restore the caretaker government system by amending the constitution.The opposition also called a dawn-to-dusk countrywide strike on March 29 protesting the government’s attempts to bar its activists from joining yesterday’s rally, the Daily Star reported.BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said that if the demand was not met by the deadline, the opposition will announce tougher agitation programmes after a grand rally to be held in the capital on June 11.Zia said the government cut off Dhaka from the rest of the country due to the rally but failed to prevent people from attending the gathering.“Whenever we plan programmes, you (government) prevent us again and again,” she said.The rally began at 1.30pm. Senior party leaders delivered speeches, criticising the government.“There were more than 100,000 supporters at the rally. They spilt into roads and open spaces near the venue,” a senior police officer who declined to be named said.The biggest opposition demonstration since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) suffered a crushing defeat in 2008 polls was largely peaceful as thousands of armed troops patrolled the city. BNP organisers, who claimed the attendance figure was far higher, said anger was focused on the government’s decision last year to scrap a neutral caretaker system for overseeing elections. Opposition groups reported that thousands of activists were detained in the days ahead of the protest, but police denied any organised crackdown. “These are regular arrests nothing to do with the opposition grand rally,” deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Monirul Islam said. Islam said at least 15,000 policemen and border guards were deployed in Dhaka to prevent violence. Local media reported that supporters from the ruling Awami League attacked one group of protesters with sticks, but there were no serious injuries. A small blast also exploded a mile (1.5km) from the protest site. In the morning, the usually bustling streets of the capital were almost empty as public transportation remained off the roads. People mostly travelled by cycle-rickshaws. No long-distance buses left or entered the capital yesterday while ferry services also remained suspended.BNP leader Zainul Abdin Farroque said the government enforced “unofficial curfew” in Dhaka.The BNP had announced in January the “Dhaka Cholo” programme, aimed at pressing the government to restore the constitutional provision for the caretaker government system to oversee the next general elections slated for 2014.The expansion of the BNP-led alliance was expected to be announced at the rally. Currently, the alliance comprises the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Jatiya Party and Khelafat Majlish.The new parties likely to join the alliance are the Liberal Democratic Party, Kalyan Party, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, National People’s Party, National Awami Party, Labour Party, Islamic Party, National Democratic Party and Muslim League.Bangladesh politics has often erupted into clashes, with the last serious outbreak of street fighting between rival party activists in 2006 when several people were killed. Agencies