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BD orders crackdown on illegal arms

DHAKA: Bangladesh's caretaker government has asked police to launch a vigorous drive to retrieve illegal arms from political activists to create conditions for free and fair elections, police said on Friday.

They said the drive was ordered after the head of the caretaker administration, ex-chief justice Habibur Rahman, held his first meeting on Thursday with 10 newly appointed advisers.

Rahman also met foreign diplomats, who promised continuing financial aid to help Bangladesh make up losses incurred during a two year-long opposition campaign that toppled Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, officials said.

Rahman took over from Khaleda last Saturday and appointed the advisers on Wednesday to assist him in running the country and holding elections before the end of June.

While all political parties had pledged to cooperate with the caretaker administration, Rahman was unlikely to achieve his goals easily, analysts and diplomats said.

Newspapers on Friday quoted Sheikh Hasina, chief of the Awami League, and leaders of the Jatiya Party headed by jailed ex-president Hossain Mohammad Ershad as saying they doubted the "neutrality" of some of the advisers. But they did not name anyone.

Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has alleged that its workers and supporters were being harassed by police in their search for arms.

"Such harassment must stop to maintain neutrality of the administration ... and for the sake of an honest election," BNP secretary-general Abdus Salam Talukder said in a statement.

Opposition parties boycotted February 15 elections, accusing Khaleda's government of being corrupt. The BNP won by a landslide but the opposition forced President Abdur Rahman Biswas, through a relentless campaign of strikes and blockades, to dissolve parliament.

A date for new poll has yet to be announced.

BNP sources told reporters on Thursday night the party was planning to make an electoral alliance with smaller parties.

Jatiya Party, which played a key role in the ousting of Khaleda, has come out very strong with the demand for the release of Ershad, who is serving a 23-year sentence for possession of unlicensed firearms and corruption.

Political analysts said the Jatiya would probably ask Awami League to support its demand for Ershad's freedom or look for other allies.

"Jatiya has a wide open choice. If it fails to get backing of current allies, it might swing back to the BNP," one analyst said.

"The caretaker government has a long way to go before it proves its authority. Too many obstacles are there to be overcome," an Asian diplomat told Reuters.

Law and order was still a big worry. Four people have been killed and nearly 200 injured in clashes between rival political groups across the country since Rahman took charge, police said.

At least 120 died and thousands were hurt in political violence over the past three months.-Reuter