Khaleda Zia asks India to respect majority's aspirations

Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia has asked India to "respect the aspirations of the majority in Bangladesh" and urged the ruling Awami League (AL) party to give up its "stubbornness" in the interest of a compromise.

"I call upon our influential neighbouring country India and its people to express their solidarity with the feelings and expectation of the majority people of Bangladesh as the rest of the world community has done," reported bdnews24.com citing Zia in a statement late Thursday.

Bangladesh's opposition parties led by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the ruling Sheikh Hasina-led AL party are engaged in a political tussle whether to have a caretaker government during scheduled Jan 5 parliamentary polls or not.

The BNP chief also requested Prime Minister Hasina's AL party not to be "stubborn" because, as she put it, that was holding up the possibility of a compromise.

The opposition, however, Thursday thanked the western countries, China and Japan and the UN for trying their best to break the political deadlock ahead of the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.

Zia's statement came a day after UN emissary Oscar Fernandez-Taranco left Dhaka after getting the ruling and opposition coalitions on the negotiating table.

She alleged that the Hasina's AL-led government was trying to extend its stay in power in the name of the "controversial" 15th constitutional amendment that scrapped the caretaker government provision.

"People, demonstrating against it, are being mercilessly shot all over the country," Zia claimed.