Do not play with fire, Hasina warns BNP-led alliance

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday sternly warned the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami combine against "playing with fire".

Besides sounding the warning, she made clear the government's firm resolve to foil a campaign of sabotage and restore peace amid an indefinite nationwide transport blockade called by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia, bdnews24.com.

"Those who play with fire are burnt by fire. That is the reality," Hasina said Wednesday at a function to felicitate the national women's cricket team held at Ganabhaban.

The prime minister alleged that the BNP had deliberately carried out the attack on Khaleda's adviser Reaz Rahman so that they could enforce a general strike Jan 15, the day of hearing in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

"She (Khaleda) seems to lose her head every time a hearing comes up."

The BNP-led 20-Party coalition called a nationwide shutdown for Thursday after unknown miscreants Tuesday night shot Rahman and set his car on fire amidst the blockade.

Incidents of vehicles being torched, vandalism and bomb blasts have been reported from various places during the blockade that started Jan 5.

The death of four more people Wednesday has taken to 17 the number killed in an opposition-called indefinite blockade demanding fresh elections in Bangladesh, Xinhua reported.