Memory lane:Political Violence Erupts in Bangladesh: December,1995
Armed militants of the governing Bangladesh Nationalist Party clashed today with opposition groups seeking to oust Prime Minister Khaleda Zia as political violence shook Bangladesh on the third day of a general strike.
Witnesses said at least 12 people, including a policeman, had been injured. The police arrested an unspecified number of militants.
They said both sides had used homemade bombs, guns, knives and rocks. "The situation is aggravating fast," a police officer said, adding that the spread of fighting to more cities was feared.
Earlier on Monday, militants hurled hundreds of homemade bombs in the port city of Chittagong, sending smoke wafting over a three-mile area. Witnesses said 20 people had been wounded.
The violence was set off by plans to hold a general election on Jan. 18.
The opposition threatened today to step up protests in an effort to get the election rescheduled and held under a neutral caretaker government.
"There can be no election under the B.N.P. Government," said the leader of the opposition Awami League, Hasina Wazed. "Any attempt to pursue it will invite a harsher response. The country is heading for a disastrous future and it can only be saved if the power-crazy Prime Minister realizes the gravity of the situation and stands down."
Sheik Hasina was due to address a rally in Dhaka on Monday evening, but she did not appear for "security reasons," party officials said.
Tofayel Ahmed, a senior Awami leader, told the rally, "Our movement will grow from strength to strength until Khaleda Zia bows out."
The strike has paralyzed Bangladesh since Saturday. The only vehicles moving were rickshaws, and most offices and businesses were closed, witnesses said.
The police stepped up security after violence on the first two days in which more than 100 people were hurt.
Sheik Hasina and her allies have said they will boycott the election unless the Prime Minister hands over the reins of her Government to a neutral interim administration.
The opposition accuses the Prime Minister of rigging a 1994 parliamentary by-election and of corruption, and says no election held under her can be fair.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/
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