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| Bangladesh |
| More militants arrested ahead of Bangladesh vote |
| 2008-12-27 |
| Bangladesh has arrested more suspected militants ahead of next week's elections, a police officer said on Friday, bringing to 23 the number of people held as part of a pre-polls crackdown. The South Asian nation will hold its first elections in seven years on Monday amid an unprecedented security operation to counter terrorist attacks and vote-rigging. Eight men were arrested following raids in the northern Govindaganj district where police also seized a cache of explosives -- big enough to make 300 grenades -- that could cause "serious damage", area police chief SM Shibly said. "It is the biggest haul of explosives we've found in the recent months. We are conducting massive operations across the region to find out other members of the group," he said. The men are suspected of belonging to the banned extremist group, Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). More than 50,000 military personnel have been deployed across the country, 600,000 police officers are manning polling booths and the country's elite Rapid Action Battalion has undertaken a massive anti-crime crackdown since campaigning began two weeks ago. Earlier this week, two suspected JMB militants were arrested in southeastern Comilla district after a raid uncovered a cache of grenades hours after Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Khaleda Zia held a campaign rally nearby. The deputy chief of the Rapid Action Battalion, Colonel Gulzar Uddin, said a big attack was unlikely before the polls."It appears that they are trying to regroup, but we don't think they have the capacity to make major attacks ahead of the polls," he said. Guarding polls: Khaleda urged her supporters to guard the elections against rigging by opponents, raising the spectre of protests and violence if she loses a vote billed as the best chance for a return to democracy. Khaleda and her rival, the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, are rated the top candidates in the elections, with some giving Hasina an edge. "A vested quarter is hatching conspiracy to get to power by manipulating the election results," Khaleda said late on Thursday, in an apparent reference to the Awami League and the government. "Guard the polling centres until you get the result sheets so that no one can change your mandate," she told supporters. "Sensing a tide of masses in favour of the BNP-led alliance across the country and fearing ... inevitable defeat in the election, they are also conspiring to kill me," she said to cheering supporters in Jamalpur, north of the capital Dhaka. Hasina, meanwhile, alleged the BNP and its staunch ally Jamaat-e-Islami were trying to create violence to thwart the election, fearing defeat. She warned against "intimidating the voters" in an effort to turn the tide in Khaleda's favour. An analyst for the international Eurasia Group has said there is a 70-percent chance Hasina will win. Many Bangladeshis say the vote will be close but give Hasina a slight edge. Atiur Rahman, professor of development studies at Dhaka University, said three key factors would influence the coming vote: food prices, farmers' welfare and combating corruption. "People will evaluate who of the two ex-PMs addressed these issues more while they were in power," Atiur told Reuters on Friday, adding he thought Hasina's government had scored best. Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, a retired professor, columnist and analyst, said, "I think the past records of the parties will influence the election, including the abuses of power ... the Awami League looks more favourite to win.""I do expect a stable government after the vote," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |