DHAKA, Dec 4: Three people were shot dead and 11 wounded in a gunbattle in Bangladesh on Monday as the opposition stepped up their crippling nationwide blockade ahead of disputed national elections.The shootout between supporters of the main opposition Awami League and the outgoing ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) occurred in the southeastern town of Cox's Bazar, a senior police officer said.
The deaths came as the caretaker government's advisory council -- effectively the cabinet -- met to try to find a way out of the impasse gripping the country.
The opposition has said it would continue its blockade, which entered its second day on Monday, until its demands for a raft of electoral reforms, including the resignation of the president, were met.
Advisory council member Mahbubul Alam told reporters it had decided to request that the Election Commission reschedule the election and carry out any necessary corrections to the voter list. It had also agreed to transfer some government officials.
It was not yet clear if the measures would be enough to satisfy the opposition, which has previously criticised the interim body for making “meaningless” changes while ignoring its main demands.
Earlier, in the capital Dhaka, thousands of Awami League activists marched to the chant of “the president must resign”. Party supporters set up barricades on roads linking the capital to other main towns and cities, paralysing the country.
“We have doubled the number of activists enforcing the blockade to make sure the capital is isolated completely from the rest of the country,” said Awami League official A.B.M Iqbal.
The opposition has called dozens of strikes, protests and blockades this year to press its demands for sweeping electoral reform, which it said was necessary if the January polls were not to be tilted in favour of the BNP.
The Awami League and its 13 leftist allies want President Iajuddin Ahmed's resignation as head of the interim government overseeing elections, currently scheduled for Jan 21.
They have also demanded a revision of a voters' list they claim has 14 million fake names, as well as the “reconstitution” of the election commission.
At least 34 people have now died in pre-election violence in the country.
Some 12,000 extra police were deployed on Monday in Dhaka, assistant commissioner of police Ali Mohammad said.
Cars were off the streets and most shops, offices and businesses remained closed, to the anger of exporters who say the blockade is costing them more than $70 million a day.
There was a similar situation in other main cities including northern Sylhet, where 4,000 police patrolled the streets to prevent violent clashes between rival party activists.
The five-year mandate of BNP leader Khaleda Zia's four-party coalition government ended on Oct 27.
The BNP has criticised the Awami League for undermining the country's democratic foundations with its “unending” demands and protests.
DHAKA, Dec 4: Three people were shot dead and 11 wounded in a gunbattle in Bangladesh on Monday as the opposition stepped up their crippling nationwide blockade ahead of disputed national elections.The shootout between supporters of the main opposition Awami League and the outgoing ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) occurred in the southeastern town of Cox's Bazar, a senior police officer said.
