DHAKA, Jan 15: Bangladesh’s national security chief was ousted and the president was under pressure to quit on Monday as a new interim government sought to put the country’s embattled democracy back on track.

Major-General Rezakul Haider Chowdhury’s removal, and that of a ministry secretary, came amid sweeping political changes following the president’s decision last week to impose a state of emergency and cancel general elections.

An armed forces spokesman said Chowdhury had been “sent to retirement after he was removed as the director-general of National Security Intelligence”.

No reason was given, although Chowdhury was widely seen as close to Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which governed the country until last October and is accused by the opposition of having attempted to rig the elections.

A new interim government took power at the weekend after the previous one failed to win the confidence of the main opposition parties, led by the Awami League.

The opposition accused the interim government – supposed to be politically independent and responsible for organising fair polls – of failing to act on its concerns that the elections initially scheduled for Jan 22 would be tilted in the BNP’s favour.

President Iajuddin Ahmed was said to be under pressure from his own party, the BNP, to bow out of politics.

Ahmed headed the first interim government after the two feuding political parties failed to agree on a mutually acceptable candidate for the post.

Although he stepped down as head of the temporary authority on Thursday, he continued as the country’s mostly ceremonial president.

“There is pressure on him (to resign). The BNP are looking to see him go,” said senior Awami League official Saber Hossain Chowdhury.

“I think they feel that the new caretaker government is going to take more of a non-party role than in the past and they want someone who can counter that.” Officials at the president’s office declined to comment.

Besides Chowdhury, Power Ministry secretary A.N.H. Akhter Hossain, another powerful figure close to the BNP, was sacked, the government’s press information department said in a statement.

The sackings were seen as part of the new interim government’s efforts to underline its neutrality and persuade the Awami League, led by Zia’s arch-rival Sheikh Hasina Wajed, to take part in rescheduled elections.

The cancellation of this month’s polls followed the Awami League’s decision to boycott them. They also threatened to launch mass protests to ensure they did not go ahead without them.

LIMBO: Bangladesh faces a long period of political limbo with months needed to organise new elections, the interim government said on Monday, after a state of emergency was imposed last week.

The country’s president imposed the emergency last week in a bid to halt months of political unrest generated by opposition claims that elections, originally scheduled for January 22 but now cancelled, would have been rigged.

A new interim cabinet member, M.A. Matin, said the promised “free and fair” polls were not likely for some time.

“There are several big demands including introduction of voter identity cards, reconstitution of election commission, preparation of the voters list and depoliticisation of the administration,” he told reporters.

Awami League spokesman Obaidul Kader said his party wanted both reforms and “elections as early as possible”. He said he expected polls “within the next three and a half months”. The opposition accused the former interim government of failing to act on its concerns that the elections would be stacked in favour of the BNP, which governed the country until last October and allegedly positioned its loyalists in election commission posts.

Among other changes were the replacement of top army commanders, including the head of the President's Guard Regiment, Brigadier General Abu Mohammad, and the commander of the 46th Brigade, Brigadier General Mahfuzur Rahman, an armed forces spokesman told AFP.