INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
campaign against the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), which has been holding rallies calling for her resignation.The BNP has
The BNP has organised an anti-government protest rally in the capital, Dhaka, which is expected to be attended by hundreds of thousands of
supporters.The BNP alleges that its leaders are being framed in fake cases in an attempt to stop the protest going ahead
taken from their homes by police
The Dhaka Metropolitan police spokesperson Faruq Ahmed confirmed the leaders had been arrested on suspicion of instigating violence against
one person was killed and more than 60 injured after police fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and teargas on a BNP protest held outside
the party offices in Dhaka
More than 400 BNP members and supporters were arrested at the demonstration.The BNP is calling for Hasina to step down and for new elections
to be held under a neutral caretaker government
Hasina, however, has refused and this week announced the next general election would take place in January 2024.Wahiduzzaman said seven
people had been shot dead and at least 6,000 BNP supporters had been arrested by authorities in recent weeks as the ruling party tried to
contain a groundswell of opposition in the face of growing discontent over the economy and alleged corruption and abuses.Yamini Mishra,
the 2014 and the 2018 general elections in Bangladesh were tainted by allegations of vote-rigging and the targeting of the political
opposition, charges the Awami League deny
In recent months, the UN, the US and other countries have repeatedly urged the Bangladeshi government to hold a free, fair and all-inclusive
human rights violations and an obliteration of the freedom of the press, with journalists and artists among those subjected to arbitrary
detention for criticising the regime
implicated in extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances.Several BNP leaders based in Dhaka declined to speak to the
elections or clamped down on freedom of the media
Bangladeshis of their right to franchise and that after two allegedly rigged elections, people in Bangladesh were rising up in protest
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com
