Bangladesh says arrests part of drive for clean vote

DHAKA, Mar 8 (Reuters) The detention of dozens of key politicians across Bangladesh, including the son of a former prime minister, is part of an anti-corruption drive to allow a clean ballot, a top legal official said today.

A general election scheduled for January 22 was postponed in the wake of politically-related violence which killed 45 people and injured hundreds, and resulted in the imposition of emergency law.

The army-backed interim authority, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, is tasked with holding a fair and credible election as soon as possible.

Since January security forces have detained more than 150 senior political figures, including several former ministers, and late on Wednesday arrested Tareque Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

Tareque is the joint secretary-general of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which ended its five-year rule in October and handed power to an interim government in charge of holding the next election.

''The arrests are a way to clean the path of a free and fair election,'' Mainul Husein, law and information adviser to the government, told Reuters.

He did not know when the election would be held. ''We need to do a lot of clean up before the election, which cannot be done in a haste,'' he said.

Both Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and her rival Khaleda want the election held by June or July.

But Husein said the government would not be forced into holding the vote until the graft issues were resolved.

''Why are we here? To complete the task you assigned us (to hold a free election). So, we don't want to fail,'' he said by telephone.

''It will be held ... when we are ready by all means.'' The government has compiled a new list of politicians and businessmen wanted for questioning over graft, the second since Bangladesh declared a state of emergency on January 11.

Those wanted include former ministers, officials at the state anti-corruption commission said.

Diplomats in Dhaka said no one particular party was being targeted. ''They (the government) have gone a long way (in detaining corrupt people) and I am afraid they cannot go back,'' said a European diplomat.

Late yesterday, Tareque was held from his mothers' house in Dhaka, while security forces also raided Hasina's home, but did not detain anyone there.

The two women, who have alternated as prime ministers for last 15 years, have not commented on the security operations.

REUTERS AKJ RS1628