Access to B'desh leaders restricted - supporters

DHAKA, May 9 (Reuters) Access to Bangladesh's two top political leaders was tightly restricted today, supporters said, although the interim authority running the poor and densely populated South Asian country said they had freedom of movement.

The home of Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, just back from a troubled holiday abroad, was surrounded by government security agents.

Callers said they were turned away by the security personnel, although Hasina and some associates did go out to pay their last respects to a deceased party official.

Hasina's rival Begum Khaleda Zia, also an ex-prime minister, has been in a situation resembling house arrest for weeks.

Hasina returned to Dhaka on Monday to a warm welcome from thousands of followers who crammed together outside the airport, ignoring a ban on such gatherings under a state of emergency.

Bangladesh has been in the emergency state banning political activity since Jan 11. An election planned for Jan 22 was cancelled and fundamental rights remain mostly suspended.

The moves came after deadly clashes between supporters of Hasina and those of Khaleda.

Police filed charges yesterday against about 3,000 activists of Hasina's Awami League for flouting the ban, and tightened security around her home, allowing only senior party leaders to meet her.

Authorities also suspended four police officers for failing to stop activists from gathering in the streets to greet Hasina.

Hasina's personal assistant Hasan Mahmud said late yesterday he was not sure if a formal restriction on Hasina had been imposed.

''But I can see lots of security people around and they are stopping people from coming in here,'' he said.

''Is this a joke?'' asked Murshed Alam, a Hasina supporter who came to see her from outside the capital yesterday but was kept away by security men.

Meanwhile leaders of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said she was still under virtual confinement and almost no one could get through tight security barriers into her home.

The government says both leaders are free to move and there is no restriction on people willing to see them.

However, a government official who declined to be identified said today: ''This is a strange, mysterious situation.'' It should be clarified ''for the sake of people's understanding'', he told Reuters.

The military-backed interim authorities running Bangladesh have made several moves analysts say show they feel their drive against corruption and for political reform would go better if the two former prime ministers were not active players.

In April sources in the government and Khaleda's BNP said she was under pressure to go into exile, while efforts were made to stop Hasina from returning after a holiday in the United States.

The authorities lifted a brief ban on Hasina's homecoming in the wake of intense local and international criticism, and also denied it had wanted Khaleda to leave.

Security forces have also detained more than 160 senior political leaders since January, including Khaleda's son and political heir Tareque Rahman and over a dozen former ministers from the BNP and Awami League.

Separately, Hasina faces charges of extortion and abetting deaths related to street fighting between BNP and Awami activists in Dhaka last October. Hasina denies the charges.

The interim authority has resisted pressure from the parties and others to lift the emergency state and announce new election schedules immediately, saying it wants first to complete its drive against corruption and put political reforms in place.

Caretaker authority chief Fakhruddin Ahmed has said he hopes to hold a free and fair election before the end of 2008.

REUTERS SKB VV1445