DHAKA, Bangladesh, 29 Oct (AP) \u2014 Authorities in Bangladesh detained a key opposition figure of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party which called for a nationwide strike Sunday.<\/p>\n
This comes a day after clashes \u2014 which left at least one policeman dead and scores injured \u2014 erupted during a massive rally demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the transfer of power to a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee general elections next year.<\/p>\n
Faruk Hossain, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police\u2019s Media Cell, told The Associated Press that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgi was detained, but didn\u2019t give further details. Alamgir is the secretary general of the Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia\u2019s party and Hasina\u2019s main rival. The party denounced his detention.<\/p>\n
As per Bangladeshi law, a detainee must appear before a court within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Hossain also said six cases were filed against some 1300 people being investigated for Saturday\u2019s violence. Local reports said Sunday that police had raided the homes of several opposition leaders overnight in the capital, Dhaka.<\/p>\n
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters that leaders of Zia\u2019s party have to bear responsibility for their \u201crole\u201d in the violence, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.<\/p>\n
Sporadic violence was witnessed Sunday with at least three vehicles set on fire in the capital amid tight security.<\/p>\n
The European Union and the United States have denounced the violence on Saturday and urged all to maintain restraint.<\/p>\n
The EU delegation in Dhaka said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is \u201cdeeply saddened to see the loss of life\u201d while stressing that a peaceful way forward was crucial.<\/p>\n
The U.S. assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, called for calm and restraint saying they \u201cwill review all violent incidents for possible visa restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tensions in the South Asian country, a parliamentary democracy, are soaring ahead of the national elections, expected to be held in January.<\/p>\n
The rivalry between Hasina and Zia has been ongoing for decades, and Hasina\u2019s government has been under pressure for months as the opposition has held largely peaceful anti-government demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Hasina hopes to return to power for a fourth consecutive term and says the election should be held under her government\u2019s supervision as specified in the constitution amid a warning by the U.S. of possible visa restrictions for disrupting the election process. The visa restriction policy is primarily focused on law enforcement agencies, as well as the ruling and opposition parties.<\/p>\n
The prime minister recently told parliament that the U.S. wants to remove her from power at any cost. However, the opposition and critics have welcomed the move by the U.S., which is the largest importer of Bangladesh\u2019s garment products.<\/p>\n
Experts say despite the diplomatic row, both Bangladesh and the U.S. have expanded their bilateral engagement with Hasina looking for ways to bolster trade and other relations with China, India, Russia, the EU and France apart from its traditional partnership with Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
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DHAKA, Bangladesh, 29 Oct (AP) \u2014 Authorities in Bangladesh detained a key opposition figure of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party which called for a nationwide strike Sunday. This comes a day after clashes \u2014 which left at least one policeman dead and scores injured \u2014 erupted during a massive rally demanding the resignation of Prime Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}