Bangladesh marks victory day

Dhaka, Dec 16: Bangladesh celebrated the 35th anniversary of its independence today amid continuing strife ahead of parliamentary elections due next month, with rival leaders laying wreaths at a war memorial near the capital.

Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan on December 16, 1971, following a nine-month guerrilla war which cost millions of lives.

First to lay wreaths at the memorial at Savar, 25 km from Dhaka, was President Iajuddin Ahmed, followed by rival former prime ministers Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, witnesses said.

Security was tight.

Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Hasina's Awami League are currently locked in a bitter struggle to win power in the elections set for January 23.

The run-up to the polls so far has been violent and tense with rival activists clashing almost every day, killing at least 44 and injuring hundreds since late October.

At least 10 people were injured in the latest fight overnight when rival party officials gathered to lay wreaths at a war memorial in the southern port city of Chittagong, police said.

Despite the anniversary, Bangladesh was focused today on its present-day challenge to hold a free and fair election, with a Hasina-led multiparty alliance still threatening to ''resist'' unless crucial reforms are implemented.

The reforms include removal of key officials at the Election Commission, whom Hasina accuses of bias in favour of Khaleda and the BNP, and pushing back the poll date to allow more time for campaigning.

REMOTE POSSIBILITY

Officials said this looked a remote possibility as the constitution requires new elections to take place within three months of expiry of the previous government's tenure.

Khaleda handed power to President Iajuddin on October 29 at the end of her five-year term as prime minister. He now heads an interim government charged with organising free, impartial polls.

Hasina has accused Iajuddin too of ''bias'' towards Khaleda and urged him to quit as caretaker leader to prove his neutrality.

The BNP attacked Hasina, saying she was trying to destroy democracy and push Bangladesh into a constitutional crisis.

The latest episode in the country's long-running political melodrama came on Thursday when the High Court confirmed a two-year jail sentence on former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad.

Earlier, a lower court had ordered Ershad jailed for squandering state funds during his 1982-1990 rule in a deal to purchase patrol boats from Japan.

Ershad's Jatiya Party, which had planned to join Hasina's alliance ahead of the polls, said the High Court suddenly sprang into action to prevent Ershad from contesting the election.

Hasina said the court ruling was ''remote-controlled'' by Khaleda's party. BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan denied this.

Yesterday, Ershad's supporters staged noisy protests across the country. They attacked and damaged vehicles in Dhaka.

Police raided a Jatiya Party office in the capital and detained about 50 party activists last night.

The Jatiya Party vowed to challenge the High Court ruling and police action. It did not elaborate.

REUTERS