Sheikh Hasina, leader of a 14-party alliance and a key contender for power in Bangladesh, said on Friday she would give the caretaker government another week to prove its neutrality and commitment to free and fair elections.
"As the government has sought more time to restructure the election commission and prune the administration, we are extending a November 3 deadline until November 11," she told a huge rally in the capital.
"If it fails to do the job by the extended time, we will launch an indefinite blockade of highways and other protests from November 12 to achieve our demands." Violence during similar protests in late October killed at least 30 people and injured hundreds before state president Iajuddin Ahmed took over the caretaker authority last Sunday.
Under the constitution, the interim government must steer the country through to general elections due in January. Earlier on Friday, speculation rose that the disputed chief election commissioner might be replaced after advisers to the caretaker government held talks with Sheikh Hasina. The advisers, C.M. Shafi Sami and Sultana Kamal, met Hasina, a former prime minister and head of the Awami League, at her Dhaka home on Thursday night. Hasina said the caretaker government had asked for more time to neutralise the administration and the election commission.
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