DHAKA, Jan 14: Bangladesh’s interim cabinet met for the first time on Sunday to begin work on steering the country out of a state of emergency and to hold free and fair elections.

Interim government chief Fakhruddin Ahmed is tasked with finding an exit strategy from the lingering political impasse that has left several people dead and paralysed the country for months.

“The cabinet held its first meeting for more than two hours today,” said caretaker government official Sarwar Alam and added that details of the meeting would be announced later.

Officials said that six people had been arrested under special emergency powers, including three members of the Communist Party of Bangladesh for defying a ban on protests by staging a rally in Dhaka on Saturday.

“Police raided party offices immediately after we held the procession. They arrested three activists outside the office,” said Communist leader Manjurul Ahsan.—AFP