Bangladesh caretaker chief quits, poll delayed

DHAKA, Jan 1: Bangladesh postponed controversial elections set for Jan. 22 after the president quit as head of the caretaker government today in an attempt to halt weeks of political violence.

Iajuddin Ahmed's resignation came hours after the declaration of a state of emergency and a night-time curfew.

''Political animosity, mistrust and violence have made life miserable for the people and made the future of democracy uncertain,'' Ahmed said in a televised address.

''Our (caretaker government's) main responsibility was to hold a free and fair election so that a duly elected government can run the country and lead it to peace and progress. But that has not been the case.'' Later a presidential spokesman said it was impossible to hold the elections because most of the advisers had quit.

Asked when they might be held, the spokesman said: ''It will be decided in due course.'' At least 45 people have been killed and hundreds injured in pre-election violence.

An alliance of parties headed by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina had vowed to boycott the polls because they said the government had failed to ensure they would be free and impartial.

Hasina accused Iajuddin of favouring Begum Khaleda Zia, who stepped down as prime minister in October at the end of her five-year term. Bangladesh has been run by a caretaker government since then.

On Wednesday, Hasina vowed to press ahead with a series of strikes and transport blockades in a bid to scuttle the election. It was not clear whether her protests would go ahead.

OBSERVERS PULL OUT

Under a state of emergency, people are forbidden to criticise the government and its activities.

Protests and marches are banned, and also printing and broadcasting critical political news, photographs and cartoons, information ministry officials said.

The United Nations said today it had suspended all technical support for the elections and the European Commission said it had decided to suspend its poll observation mission.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted the situation had deteriorated to the point that the US-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Republican Institute were also refusing to monitor the elections.

Ahmed said Fazlul Haque, a senior member of his council of advisers, would act as chief of the caretaker authority until he appointed a new council of advisers in ''a couple of days''.

The last state of emergency was declared in early 1975 by then-president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to fight a leftist insurgency in western Bangladesh.

Reactions were mixed to the latest emergency in Bangladesh, a mainly Muslim country of 140 million people.

Some people saw it as an obvious step in the crisis and others said it was more welcome than a military takeover.

''What else could they (the government) think of as a way to save the country from increasing disorder?'' said Abdur Razzak, a government official.

Reuters