Nationwide strike hits Bangladesh

DHAKA, AUG. 23. Steel-helmeted riot police patrolled the streets and paramilitary troops guarded state buildings here today as Bangladesh was hit by yet another anti-Government general strike.

The half-day strike, the second such called by the Opposition in the past fortnight, was called to protest against the killing of an Opposition leader, Habibur Rahman Mondal, on Sunday.

Mondal, a lawyer and joint secretary of the Dhaka unit of the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while going to court.

The BNP has blamed ruling Awami League activists for his death. The AL has denied the allegation. Ruling party supporters staged protests and marches against the strikers but there were no reports of violence.

The nationwide strike, enforced by a four-party alliance headed by the BNP of the former Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, also widely disrupted normal life in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong, residents said.

The alliance, which includes the Jatiya Party of the former military ruler, Gen. H.M. Ershad, the fundamentalist Jammat-e- Islami party and the Islami Aikya Jote, has been demanding the resignation of the four-year-old Sheikh Hasina Government.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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