Bangladesh paralysed by strike

Three small bombs exploded in Bangladesh's capital on Sunday as police clashed with protesters during a nation-wide strike called by opposition parties that brought the country to a halt. The low-intensity explosions went off near the headquarters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and in a northern suburb of the capital, leaving two people injured, police said.
"These are small bombs. One police sub-inspector has been injured in one of the blasts," said Dhaka's deputy police commissioner Anwar Hossain, adding at least 40 people were arrested on charges of violence on Sunday.
Police, who baton-charged supporters of the BNP and its Islamist allies outside the capital Dhaka, did not give any injury toll for the day's clashes but local media put the figure between 40 and 100. At least 8,000 police and 1,500 paramilitary forces succeeded in mostly keeping the peace in Dhaka on Sunday, where security was tightened after overnight violence overnight saw a dozen buses torched and 40 people arrested.
The worst clashes were in the towns of Begumganj in southern Bangladesh where police fired rubber bullets to disperse up to 500 opposition activists, and at Narsingdi and Narayanganj, just outside the capital Dhaka. The strike was called after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the ruling Awami League party announced plans last week to scrap the country's tradition of appointing a caretaker government during election time.
The system is designed to cover three months over an election period in Bangladesh - a nation which has a long history of political violence since its independence in 1971.
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia told reporters Saturday her party would not contest future polls if the government scrapped the caretaker system, which has covered four successive elections.
The strike is the fourth the BNP has called since it suffered a crushing defeat in December 2008 elections. Its main Islamist allies have lent support to the strike. Shops, businesses and schools were shut throughout the country and major roads and highways were deserted. At least 2,000 policemen were deployed in the port city of Chittagong, city special branch police chief Meshbahuddin Ahmed said.