Opposition calls for protests,16 BNP leaders charged for arson

Bangladesh's opposition party BNP has called for fresh countrywide protests tomorrow to push for the postponement of the general election, as 16 of its activists, including two top leaders, were charged for a deadly arson attack on a bus.
Police have filed a case against 16 BNP leaders, including the party's acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, in connection with yesterday's arson attack on a bus in which two people were killed and 16 others injured.
Suspected Opposition activists had torched the bus on the third day of their 71-hour nationwide blockade.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which ended the blockade at 5 am today, denied allegations of setting the bus on fire, attributing the act to government supporters.
The ruling Awami League and BNP are at loggerheads over the system for conducting the polls. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has formed a multi-party interim set-up while the BNP wants elections under a non-party interim government.
The opposition led by BNP is demanding that the polls scheduled for January 5 should be shelved until the dispute over the poll-time government is settled. Alamgir today reiterated BNP's demand to postpone the polls until the dispute is resolved.

Police said they have recorded 21 deaths during the opposition-enforced three-day strike.

BNP and its allies have announced fresh protest rallies tomorrow across the country to push for the postponement of the general election after its three-day strike.
Meanwhile, police said they suspected the miscreants used gun powder or petrol bomb to torch the bus while the wounded passengers said the packed vehicle caught fire after "something" landed in it from outside.
The mass circulation Samakal and several other newspapers said of the 21 casualties in the unrest, seven have died of burn wounds caused by petrol bombs or arson in vehicles during the past three days when hundreds others, mostly ordinary people, were injured.

Despite the end of the blockade, sporadic incidents of violence were reported from different parts of the country. A bus was also torched in the Mirpur area of the capital. There were no injuries reported in the incident.