BangladeshÂ’s opposition vowed on Saturday to paralyse the country for weeks if the government did not cancel a national election slated for January 22, which it condemned as a farce. That's as opposed to the usual state of Bangladesh, which is... ummm... mostly paralyzed.
The opposition has called a nationwide transport blockade for Sunday and Monday unless the interim government agreed to reforms that it said were crucial for free and fair elections. “We will not accept farcical elections. We will shut down the country for weeks if the government goes ahead with holding the elections on January 22,” opposition spokesman Abdul Jalil said.
Jalil said the shutdown would continue non-stop unless reforms were implemented that ensured the elections were not tilted in favour of the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Jalil said the temporary administration, charged with holding the polls before the end of January, had arrested at least 500 opposition activists ahead of the planned 48-hour blockade.