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Bangladesh activists demand president’s resignation
(Reuters)
30 November 2006
DHAKA - Thousands of political activists surrounded the presidential place in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday demanding that the president quit his post as caretaker ruler for failing to remove controversial election officials.
The protest by a 14-party alliance led by the Awami League was the latest in the run-up to parliamentary elections in January, which the alliance has threatened to disrupt if key election commission officials, accused of bias, are not removed. After weeks of protests, Awami League supporters turned their ire against President Iajuddin Ahmed, saying he had failed to act impartially. “The president must step down as chief of caretaker government as his actions are designed to appease Khaleda Zia and not to ensure a free election,” said Mufazzal Hossain Maya, chief of the Dhaka unit of Awami League. Begum Khaleda Zia ended her five-year term as prime minister in October, and Iajuddin took over as head of a caretaker administration charged with organising the elections. The Awami League accuses election officials of trying to rig voter lists to help Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the January 21 election. Abdur Rashid Sarkar, secretary of the election commission, dismissed the charges as baseless. Anti-riot police patrolled the streets of Dhaka to prevent any violence. ”Why is this happening to us every now and then? What is our fault?” said an angry woman, as she walked her children to school past barricades set up by the police. The latest protest coincides with a visit to Dhaka by UN envoy Craig Jenness to assess the political situation ahead of the polls. Jenness, director of the UN Electoral Assistance Division, on Wednesday expressed concern over the prolonged political crisis in the country in talks with President Ahmed and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina. He was due to meet Khaleda on Thursday. The Awami League, which is demanding postponement of January 21 election until a complete restructuring of the election commission, has set a Saturday deadline for the president to prove his neutrality by accepting her demands. Otherwise, the alliance has said it would enforce a countrywide transport blockade from Sunday, the third in the past two weeks. At least 40 people were killed in the previous blockades and protests.
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