US concerns mount over Bangladesh political strife

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) Bangladesh must sort out its long-running political dispute before turmoil that has killed at least 45 people does further damage to the country's economy and society, US officials and experts said.

Bangladesh has been in political crisis since the dissolution of the government at the end of its five-year term on October 28 and the appointment of an interim administration that was supposed to oversee elections originally scheduled for January 22 but were postponed indefinitely.

''We would like to see free, fair, nonviolent and credible elections in which all can participate as soon as possible,'' Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, said yesterday.

He said the United States, which on January 12 issued a warning to US citizens to avoid travel to Bangladesh, would monitor court rulings and decisions by electoral authorities as national leaders wrangle over rescheduling the vote.

At a U.S. Institute of Peace panel on Bangladesh on Wednesday, Amnesty International presented a picture of widespread abuses in the Islam-majority country of 147 million people.

''We see a very dangerous situation for human rights in Bangladesh,'' said T Kumar, Asia&Pacific advocacy director for Amnesty International US.

He cited accounts of ''mass arrests, numerous brutal forms of torture such as electric shock, rape of women with complete impunity, and forced confessions.'' Peter Manikas, who was scheduled to be an election monitor, said a recent trip to Bangladesh indicated that some people spoke of military rule under a ''Pakistan model'' or ''Thailand option'' -- two Asian states run by military men after coups.

''There is a widespread agreement that the caretaker government is a civilian facade for what is essentially a military regime,'' said Manikas, regional director for Asia at the National Democratic Institute.

It was ''less important when the election will be held than knowing that it will be held,'' he said, but warned that a lengthy delay would run into the mid-year monsoon season when it would be hard to conduct polls in the flood-prone country.

The US Institute of Peace, a think tank focusing on conflict spots around the world, said in a recent report that the risk for the United States was that a once-moderate Muslim democracy could become a haven for Islamist militants.

It said the United States and the Commonwealth should consider punitive measures if the army declared martial law or took other unconstitutional steps.

Reuters SBA VP0620