Violent clashes before election

POLITICAL clashes in Bangladesh left two campaign workers dead and injured dozens more, police said yesterday, as tensions soared before a general election on December 30.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the ruling Awami League Party is seeking a third straight term as formal election campaigning got under way.

Her old rival, Khaleda Zia, who leads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is in jail after being convicted on charges she says were politically motivated.

The BNP boycotted the last election, in 2014, as unfair, but has said it will take part this time, though it is seeking international monitors of polls it believes will be flawed.

Workers from the two parties clashed on Tuesday, leaving two Awami League campaigners dead, police said.

Police said cases had been opened against 45 people and more arrests were expected.

“The returning officer has convened a meeting of both parties to avoid such an incident in future,” said Elias Sharif, superintendent of police in Noakhali.

Awami League spokesperson Hasan Mahmud accused the BNP of trying to “foil a peaceful environment and for that they are attacking our people”.

The BNP denied the accusation and said at least 200 of its supporters were injured. It also accused Awami League workers of attacking the motorcade of the BNP general secretary, a charge denied by Hasan.

Elections in Bangladesh are typically marred by violence, but tensions are particularly high during this campaign season. The BNP says scores of its workers have been detained in recent months on fictitious charges. | IRAQI activist Nadia Murad met her country’s president, Barham Salih, in Baghdad yesterday after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy on behalf of victims of wartime sexual violence. Murad was among thousands of women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by Islamic State in 2014. |