Opposition blockade halts transport in B'desh

Dhaka, Sept 20: Trains and bus services were largely paralysed in Bangladesh today as the opposition enforced a transport blockade in a stepped-up campaign for electoral reforms ahead of elections next year.

Thousands of people crowded railway stations and interstate bus terminals, hoping to catch the few trains and buses that ran, witnesses said.

A 14-party alliance led by main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina called for the blockade to force the government to remove the chief election commissioner and his deputies, accusing them of a pro-government bias.

The opposition also wants a say in choosing the head of a caretaker authority that would supervise the election in January 2007.

Witnesses said opposition activists stood on railway tracks to stop movement of trains and at least half a dozen buses were damaged.

''The districts have remained virtually cut off from the Capital,'' said a transport operator at a bus terminal in Dhaka.

Hasina, who heads the main opposition Awami League, has said that the opposition will boycott and resist the election if the government did not carry out the reforms aimed at ensuring a free and fair poll.

Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has rejected the demand and urged people to foil what she said were opposition attempts to disrupt democracy in the country.

REUTERS