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Three Die in Violence As Bangladesh Awaits Caretaker Rule
DHAKA, July 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Three people were killed and 150 injured in overnight violence between rival political groups as Bangladesh awaited Saturday the installation of a caretaker government, news agencies reported.
The deaths were reported as Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made her final speech to parliament that was being dissolved to pave the way for general elections.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the violence as an opposition rally ended late Friday.
One person was killed in Noakhali district in the south, one in Jhenaidah in the southwest and one in coastal Bhola district, police and media said.
Pro-government and opposition supporters fought each other Friday in several parts of the country, using guns and home-made bombs.
Police had been drafted onto the streets of the capital, Dhaka, following calls by the opposition leader Sheikh Khalida Zia, for demonstrations to celebrate the end to what she called Sheikh Hasina's autocratic rule.
Clashes between supporters of the ruling party and those of the opposition were also reported early Saturday in the port city of Narayanganj and several other towns.
No fresh violence was reported on Saturday morning in Dhaka and an uneasy calm prevailed in the violence prone port city of Chittagong, where police said paramilitary troops guarded a university campus fearing rival student clashes.
Fresh elections for a new government are due in October, but Sheikh Zia has demanded that Bangladeshi President Shahabuddin Ahmed install a caretaker government immediately to be headed by former chief justice Latifur Rahman.
"We want immediate installation of the caretaker government to ensure peace and we will not accept any delay," she told supporters of the four-party opposition alliance.
Zia said another rally to press her demands would be held Saturday afternoon at the Dhaka headquarters of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which was guarded by a heavy police contingent.
Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper and other media have said the interim government will come to power Sunday evening.
But the president, who assumes most executive powers during the transition, has so far not announced a date, saying only he would strictly follow the constitution.
The caretaker government must organize elections within 90 days.
Rahman has already moved into his official residence and has reportedly held fresh talks with Ahmed, who as the country's first caretaker government chief, organized elections in 1991, hailed as the freest in Bangladesh's history.
The 65-year-old former chief justice will have to appoint ten advisors for the neutral government after receiving suggested lists from the main parties.
Bangladesh's constitution states that before an election, the prime minister should hand over power to a caretaker administration which is responsible for ensuring the election is free and fair.
Sheikh Hasina, who just ended her five year term, is the first democratically-elected leader in Bangladesh's 30-year history to complete a full term in government.
Hasina has sought a fresh mandate from voters, arguing that during the past five years her government had set the economy on a sound foundation.
"If we get the chance to serve the country for the next term, Inshallah (God willing) we shall be able to bring about the coveted economic emancipation," she told parliament Friday night.
Sheikh Hasina assumed the office of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 23 June 1996 and she succeeded in changing the presidential system into the parliamentary one.
After becoming the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina adopted a number of pragmatic policies for overall development of the nation including poverty alleviation.
She has been awarded UNESCO's Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize for 1998 for her outstanding contribution in bringing peace through ending the 25 years of conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts.
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