DHAKA: A string of political murders, violent street protests and a parliamentary boycott all suggest that Bangladesh is quickly falling back into its old troubling ways after recent elections, analysts say.

The polls, won by the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, were hailed by international monitoring groups as a huge success that crowned two years of relative stability under an army-backed government.

Voting was meant to usher in a new era of democratic rule but, just six weeks later, political violence is spreading across the country, with police saying more than two dozen people have been murdered.

Awami League officials who were out of power for seven long years are allegedly settling scores with activists of the defeated Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Ataur Rahman, a political analyst at Dhaka University, says he can detect many symptoms of Bangladesh’s “ugly old-style politics.”

“Our politics of revenge has come back again with a renewed vigour. Parties are settling scores, and students and political activists are feeling free to do whatever they can. We are again at our prejudiced best,” he said.

“It shows that our politicians haven’t learnt anything in the past two years or from history.”

The BNP, which had won 2001 polls, has boycotted parliament – a favourite wrecking tactic used often throughout Bangladesh’s history of dysfunctional politics.

The trigger for the walkout was an apparently petty dispute about seating arrangements, but the BNP quickly brought proceedings to a standstill and shows no sign of backing down.

In another sign of trouble since the new Awami League government took over, thousands of student activists – a major political force in Bangladesh – have clashed with police almost every day, leaving hundreds of people injured. Many universities and colleges have been shut due to the street violence, which has also brought traffic chaos back to the country’s main cities.—AFP