Ahead of polls, opposition to blockade Bangladesh again
6 Dec 2013 6:17 AM IST
The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance called for the fresh blockade after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again rejected its demand for a ‘non-party’ caretaker government with an ‘appreciable person’ as its head for polls oversight.
‘The road, railways and waterways blockade programme will start on Saturday at 6 am and will end on Tuesday 6 am,’ BNP’s Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed announced in a video message from an undisclosed location.
Most of the BNP leaders went into hiding as the government promised to be tough ‘as much as required’ against those who masterminded the senseless violence or ordered to uproot railway tracks, derail trains and torch buses, resulting in the deaths of the innocent people.
A number of senior BNP leaders are already in jail to face charges of instigating violence.
Former Bangladesh military ruler HM Ershad threatens suicide
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s former military ruler H.M. Ershad on Thursday threatened to kill himself after security forces overnight surrounded his residence, two days after his dramatic decision to boycott next month’s elections.
‘I have loaded four pistols... I told the government I will kill myself if they play any tricks with me,’ Mr. Ershad told a private television channel at his up market Gulshan residence after midnight on Thursday.
‘I will die before the RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) or the police can lay a finger on me,’ the 83-year-old said, before making a trigger-pulling gesture towards his head.
Mr. Ershad on Tuesday said Jatiya Party - a crucial ally of the Awami League-led grand alliance - will not participate in the 5 January general elections, raising questions over the credibility of the polls which is also being boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
‘The road, railways and waterways blockade programme will start on Saturday at 6 am and will end on Tuesday 6 am,’ BNP’s Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed announced in a video message from an undisclosed location.
Most of the BNP leaders went into hiding as the government promised to be tough ‘as much as required’ against those who masterminded the senseless violence or ordered to uproot railway tracks, derail trains and torch buses, resulting in the deaths of the innocent people.
A number of senior BNP leaders are already in jail to face charges of instigating violence.
Former Bangladesh military ruler HM Ershad threatens suicide
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s former military ruler H.M. Ershad on Thursday threatened to kill himself after security forces overnight surrounded his residence, two days after his dramatic decision to boycott next month’s elections.
‘I have loaded four pistols... I told the government I will kill myself if they play any tricks with me,’ Mr. Ershad told a private television channel at his up market Gulshan residence after midnight on Thursday.
‘I will die before the RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) or the police can lay a finger on me,’ the 83-year-old said, before making a trigger-pulling gesture towards his head.
Mr. Ershad on Tuesday said Jatiya Party - a crucial ally of the Awami League-led grand alliance - will not participate in the 5 January general elections, raising questions over the credibility of the polls which is also being boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
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