Politics under lock and key in Bangladesh

Dhaka, March 11: Most Bangladesh political party offices were under lock and key today after the country's interim government banned even indoor political events indefinitely as it tries to pave the way for new elections.

Political activities on the streets or in public including strikes and roadblocks -- trade marks of Bangladesh's confrontational politics -- have been banned since the government imposed a state of emergency on Jan. 11.

But authorities issued a further order at the weekend banning indoor political activity as well after main party leaders Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia started talking shop at non-political anniversaries and ceremonies.

''Recently it has been noticed that some political parties have been misusing the flexibility granted under the emergency rules,'' said a home ministry statement.

''They are trying to undermine the state of emergency by not strictly adhering to the provisions of the emergency,'' the ministry said. ''So the government has decided to ban all political activities -- both indoors and outdoors -- with immediate effect.'' The army-backed government insists that no election can take place until national politics have been cleansed of corruption and critical reforms implemented to ensure a free and fair poll.

This has caused some jitters among officials of the Awami League, led by Hasina, and Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The two women, both former prime ministers, have been arch-enemies for more than 15 years.

Since Friday, political parties have closed almost all their offices across the country, witnesses said.

Hasina has told reporters she will use her ''time off politics'' to write books and memoirs. BNP officials say Khaleda will spend her enforced leisure time at home and seeing friends.

Khaleda's son and apparent political heir, Tareque Rahman, has been detained in the army-led clean-up, along with hundreds of other BNP and Awami politicians, including former ministers.

No Hint On Election

No one knows how long the purge of corrupt politicians will continue, analysts say, and no one expects elections to take place before late 2007 at the earliest.

The government insists it has much time-consuming work to complete before it can set a new election schedule.

Khaleda ended her five-year term as premier last October, handing power to a caretaker authority with the task of taking the nation through to national elections. Polls originally set for Jan. 22 had to be postponed after battles between BNP and Awami activists killed 45 people and injured hundreds.

Two months after the imposition of a state of emergency, the army's actions -- which most Bangladeshis at first applauded -- are now viewed with some suspicion, political analysts said.

This is mainly because, in the name of rooting out corruption, soldiers have demolished thousands of shops and homes around the country of 140 million people.

The interim government headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed has the job of staging free and credible polls. But many Bangladeshis question whether it has a mandate to conduct mass demolitions or a seemingly indiscriminate purge of people around the impoverished country.

''I am virtually starving with my seven-member family after I was driven off the street,'' said Abdul Khaleq, a fruit vendor.

''I am not corrupt, did no crime,'' Khaleq said. ''I just toil to make a meagre living by selling fruits. Why should they target me?''

Reuters