Bangladesh talks fail to resolve election impasse

DHAKA, Nov 5 (Reuters) Bangladesh teetered on the brink of more trouble today after officials said President Iajuddin Ahmed's talks with top advisers had failed to resolve a standoff between the country's two feuding political groups.

Iajuddin, who heads an interim administration before next January's general elections, met 10 ministerial advisers over the past two days in a bid to end the crisis, but no breakthrough had been made, officials said.

On Friday, the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, leader of a 14-party alliance and a key contender for power in Bangladesh, said she would give the caretaker government another week to prove its neutrality and commitment to free and fair elections.

She has threatened to launch an indefinite blockade of highways and other protests from November 12 to achieve her demands.

The Hasina-led alliance has been demanding the removal of chief election commissioner M A Aziz and his deputies, accusing them of bias towards the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which ruled the country until its mandate expired last month.

But BNP leaders met Iajuddin yesterday and asked him not to tell Aziz and his team to step down.

''Instead of being influenced by what the Awamis say, the caretaker government should firmly stand by the election commissioners so they can complete their assigned job of holding a free and peaceful election,'' BNP Secretary-General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told reporters.

In their efforts to keep pressure on the caretaker government, Awami League supporters held a big rally in Dhaka today.

They urged the president and his advisers ''not to submit to BNP's illogical and illegal demands.'' ''It's a new conspiracy to mislead the caretaker government and derail efforts to hold a free and fair election,'' Awami General Secretary Abdul Jalil told today's rally.

Political analysts say the intensifying standoff could lead the impoverished country of 140 million people to more violence similar to last week's trouble when 30 people were killed and hundreds injured.

The BNP and Awami League have vowed to face each other ''on the streets'' -- raising a security alarm.

''We are facing a potentially dangerous situation, which needs to be tackled immediately,'' a senior police officer said today.

REUTERS SP BS1928