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Another strike grips BD despite new law

DHAKA: Thousands of extra police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled Dhaka on Tuesday as the opposition launched another strike to try to bring down the government.

The national strike, the latest bid to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is scheduled to last three days. It began the same day a controversial public safety law takes effect.

Under the law, jail terms of up to 14 years hard labour can be handed down for crimes that include obstructing transport and damaging property -- activity common during strikes.

Transport officials said on Tuesday most of the highway buses were stranded, at least nine domestic flights were cancelled but trains operated normally.

In the capital Dhaka, police and witnesses reported only minor clashes. Doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital said they treated four people for minor injuries.

Police and soldiers were also out in force in Chittagong port city.

"Cargo handling is continuing partially but delivery from the port has been totally stopped," a port official said.

The latest strike was called by opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and her allies in a four-party opposition alliance.

Khaleda has led a campaign of 55 major strikes aimed at toppling the government since Hasina's Awami League won elections in June 1996.

The last opposition-led strike on February 2-3 also paralysed much of the nation and analysts say the stoppages have cost the impoverished country billions of dollars and driven away investors.

Khaleda turned down Hasina's recent offer to try to resolve their differences, saying she wants Hasina's resignation first.

Khaleda routinely accuses Hasina's government of arresting opposition leaders and activists "on political grounds" and subjecting them to "punishment and harassment normally meted out to criminals."

Opposition leaders were further angered by the Public Safety Law. The law was passed by parliament without the participation of opposition lawmakers, who have boycotted proceedings since mid-1999.-Reuters