Bangladesh violence: Govt rules out army deployment
January 18, 2015, 10:59 am

People try to get on the train at the railway station during the non-stop blockade called by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 7, 2015 [Xinhua]

“There is no such situation in the country for which we need to go for deployment of the army-led joint forces,” he said while talking to reporters at his office in capital Dhaka.

He said members of the anti-crime buster elite force Rapid Action Battalion, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh and police are  confident of dealing with the violence.

The United Nations human rights office on Friday expressed concern over the rising levels of political violence rippling across Bangladesh.

“The deepening political violence in Bangladesh, resulting from the failure of the two major political parties to resolve their differences peacefully, is very disturbing,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said at a press briefing in Geneva.

The fresh wave of violence has so far left 24 people dead and several hundreds injured as anti-government protesters battled with law enforcers, attacked rivals, torched vehicles and targeted railway since Jan. 6 morning when ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s opposition alliance enforced nationwide non-stop rail-road- waterway blockade.

Khaleda Zia, who alleges that she has been kept confined to her office in Dhaka’s diplomatic enclave since the night of Jan. 4, announced indefinite blockade across the country after her alliance was barred to hold a rally on Jan. 5 in capital Dhaka demanding fresh parliament polls under a non-party caretaker government system.

The current bout of unrest began on 5 January when the opposition Bangladesh National Party, the BNP, called on its supporters to launch a transport blockade to mark the anniversary of last year’s elections which the opposition had boycotted. The Government, for its part, imposed a ban on demonstrations and prevented senior members of the BNP from attending the protest. Since then over a dozen people have reportedly been killed and hundreds injured in ongoing clashes between supporters of the two parties, as well as with security forces. A number of opposition leaders have also been arrested.

Amid the escalating violence, UN human rights body said the “rampant use” of arson attacks on vehicles was “particularly disturbing,” citing a recent incident in which a crowded public bus was set on fire, resulting in the immolation deaths of four people including one child. The same day, a senior BNP advisor was shot at and his car set on fire.

Hundreds of vehicles were smashed or set on fire during the ongoing blockade.

Khaleda Zia, also Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, has urged her party men to continue blockade until the government is forced to sit in a dialogue on holding a fresh free, fair and inclusive election.

Violence has remained unabated across Bangladesh as rift between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party and Khaleda Zia’s BNP-led 20-party alliance widens with their rigid stances.

Source: Agencies