Police cordon off the office of Bangladeshi Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 5, 2014. Bangladeshi Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who remained cordoned off inside her office in Dhaka's Gushan diplomatic enclave since Saturday night, has asked her 20-party alliance leaders and activists to defy the police ban on political gatherings and to make their Jan. 5 rally a success. (Xinhua/Shariful Islam)
DHAKA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's ruling party men clashed with opposition supporters on Monday, leaving two people dead and dozens of injured in different parts of the country.
A least two people have been shot dead in a clash between ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party and its main opponent ex- Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and activists in Natore district on Monday morning.
"Two people have died from injuries suffered in violent clashes. We've come to know that they are involved in BNP politics," Moshiur Rahman, the district's administration chief, told Xinhua Monday.
Tense political standoff over the opposition alliance's demand for a fresh polls under a non-party caretaker government system culminated with both the ruling and opposition parties calling rallies on Jan. 5 in Dhaka to stage showdown.
Paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) soldiers were deployed in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country to thwart any untoward incident over the opposition's plans to hold rallies defying police bans.
Bangladesh police have imposed an indefinite ban on meetings, processions and rallies in capital Dhaka from Sunday evening, a step the opposition described as an attempt to mute dissenting voices.
Tension has been prevailing across Bangladesh due to the political anarchy and confrontation centering on the counter programmes declared by Awami League and BNP.
The communication through major road and waterways connecting to Dhaka also came to a halt since Sunday morning.
Dhaka has virtually turned into a "forbidden city" as all modes of transport bound for the capital stopped plying between the city and outlying Bangladesh places in an apparent move to keep the opposition men refrained from their march slated for Sunday.
Fears of a new round of violence in the coming days raised in the already political crisis-ridden Bangladesh as the main opposition alliance was set to hold its long march on Dec. 29, demanding parliament polls under a caretaker government.
Hasina's AL party has already vowed to resist the program and asked its leaders and activists to guard all the entry points of Dhaka. Khaleda, who also virtually remained confined to her residence as detectives and hundreds of uniformed policemen surrounded her residence since Saturday, has urged countrymen to defy rally bans.
BNP, which has no representation in the current parliament as it boycotted the Jan. 5 parliament elections in 2014, reiterated its vow to unseat Hasina's government with movement.
Khaleda's 20-party opposition alliance now wants to observe Jan. 5 as "Democracy Killing Day" and hold a grand rally in the capital, while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Bangladesh Awami League party is all set to celebrate it as "Victory Day for Democracy", raising among the general masses the spectre of a return of wide spread violence in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.
Khaleda Zia on Wednesday night at a press briefing tabled a seven-point proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasian's government for an immediate "inclusive general elections" under a non-party caretaker government. Khaleda Zia's 20-party alliance has been waging mass protests demanding for fresh national elections in the country under a non- party caretaker government.
