Five members in Bangladesh's inerim administration council

DHAKA, Jan 16: Bangladesh's new interim administration chief named five members to his council of advisers today, completing his team and setting the stage to prepare the troubled country for national elections.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, who was appointed caretaker chief last week after weeks of street protests and violence, now has 10 advisors who will together function as his cabinet and govern the poor South Asian nation in the run-up to the contentious vote.

The elections had been set for January 22 but were put off after almost daily demonstrations by an alliance of parties led by the Awami League.

Accusing President Iajuddin Ahmed -- the previous caretaker chief of the country -- of favouring its rivals, the alliance boycotted the polls and called disruptive strikes to derail them.

Dozens died and hundreds were wounded in the violence, forcing Iajuddin to put off the elections, impose emergency laws and step down as head of the interim administration.

A new election date has not yet been set, though authorities and analysts say they expect it to be held in about three months.

Three of the five new advisers -- a former bureaucrat, a former inspector-general of police and a former army major-general -- were sworn in at a simple ceremony by Iajuddin.

The other two were abroad and would be sworn in on their return to Dhaka soon, officials said.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, a widely respected former central bank governor and a former World Bank official, brought the first five advisers into his council on Saturday.

Diplomats and analysts say the Awami-led group and an alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which ruled for five years until October, remain bitterly divided and it would be a challenge for Ahmed to build political consensus.

Ahmed has to open talks with the two political alliances, reform the election commission by appointing impartial bureaucrats or former judges and redo the voters' rolls, which the Awami League says was manipulated in favour of the BNP.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, an analyst at Dhaka's Centre for Policy Dialogue, said he was hopeful the new administration was up to the task.

''We are still expecting to see a proper workplan from the caretaker government regarding how they will go about the election and other reform agenda,'' he said.

''We now have an independent, autonomous chief adviser which gives us the enthusiasm to positively look forward. We are keeping our fingers crossed.''

Reuters