950825

BD enters dangerous

phase claims opposition

DHAKA: Bangladesh's main opposition leader, Sheikh Hasina, says the country has entered a dangerous phase that might breed more uncertainties and political turmoil.

"Bangladesh now is in a dangerous phase... and people have no choice but to intensify their movement to restore freedom and democracy," the leader of the Awami League, the country's largest opposition party, said.

At a farewell luncheon she hosted on Thursday for outgoing Egyptian Ambassador Mohammad Kamal Emiligy, Hasina said Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was ruling the country with an illegal parliament, Awami sources said.

"The speaker (Sheikh Razzak Ali) has acted beyong his constitutional powers... and the Election Commission is partisan," they quoted her as saying.

"They both flouted constitution to serve the interest of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), pushing the country towards confrontation and unprecedented political crisis," she alleged.

The crisis intensified when 147 opposition members resigned from parliament in December, following a 10-month boycott of the legislature, trying to force Khaleda to accept their demand that she step down and allow early elections supervised by a neutral caretaker administration.

Khaleda, elected in 1991 in what were billed as Bangladesh's first free polls, rejected the demands, saying she would strictly go by the constitution.

Under the constitution, vacated parliament seats should be filled through by-elections while a dissolution of parliament is not required.

But opposition parties have vowed to stop any elections as long as Khaleda remains in power and if they are not held under a caretaker administration.

Diplomats said they viewed with interest and worries a series of protests planned by the opposition, including a two-day national strike from September 2.

"Overseas donors are seriously upset by the ongoing uncertainties in Bangladesh. They are becoming disillusioned about the country's future," an Asian diplomat told Reuters on Friday.-Reuter