Fresh violence as opposition strike in Bangla enters final day

At least one person was killed and nearly 50 injured as fresh violence erupted across Bangladesh today on the final day of a 60-hour nationwide strike called by the opposition to force the government to restore the caretaker regime system to oversee the next general elections.
A protester was killed and four injured when police opened fire in a clash between workers of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and ruling Awami League in Magura district.
The BNP, later, claimed the victim was a party cadre.
Supporters of BNP and its rightwing ally Jamaat-e-Islami torched a bus in Manikganj area and vandalised at least eight vehicles in Gazipur area, police said.

In Dhaka, six persons, including a nine-year old girl and a police officer, were injured in a string of bomb blasts.
The incidents of clashes, explosions and vandalism were also reported from other parts of Bangladesh. At least 24 crude bombs were blasted in Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Joypurhat, reports said.

Sixteen people have been killed in violence linked to political turmoil since Friday.
State media reported public life in Dhaka remained somewhat normal with many people joining their works.
All government, non-government offices and financial institutions in Dhaka were open with satisfactory attendance, the report said. The strike, however, kept educational institutions, shopping malls and some private offices closed, it said.

The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance called the strike demanding restoration of the neutral caretaker government system to oversee the country's next general election. The polls are to be held by January 25, 2014.
The strike came as telephonic talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia on Saturday - believed to be the first conversation between the two squabbling leaders in at least a decade - could make little headway in easing tensions.
Earlier, Hasina has proposed the formation of a caretaker government with representatives of all political parties. Zia, however, rejected her proposal and floated a formula for creating a neutral poll-time caretaker regime.

The Awami League, which has a three-fourths majority in the current parliament, scrapped the caretaker system by amending the Constitution two years ago.
The BNP has repeatedly contended that polls will be fair only under a non-party government.
The two "battling begums" has been ruling Bangladesh alternately since 1991. Although, an army-backed regime ruled the nation briefly between 2007 and 2008.