Dhaka, Jan 6 (EFE).– Violence has flared up across Bangladesh despite the heavy deployment of security forces as the country prepares for the general election on Sunday amid opposition calls for a vote boycott and strikes.
Fire service spokesperson Talha Bin Zasim said they received information about 14 incidents of fire in 16 hours from Friday evening to Saturday morning, including a suspected arson attack on a moving train that left at least four people dead.
At least five other vehicles, eight educational institutions, and a Buddhist temple were set ablaze, Zasim told EFE.
At least eight people injured from the fire on the train near Dhaka’s main station on Friday night were undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka, said chief coordinator Samanta Lal Sen.
“All of them are in critical condition as their tracheas were burned,” Sen told EFE.
The police recovered the body of a polling station security guard in central Rajbari district, police chief Alamgir Hossain told EFE.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies have enforced a 48-hour strike, urging people to refrain from voting in a “sham” election with a pre-determined result.
BNP’s strike rendered traffic thin on the streets in the capital, Dhaka, and forced the owners of buses on long-distance routes to suspend their journeys.
Bangladesh Railway authorities also suspended the journeys of 20 trains for two days over safety concerns.
The government has deployed the Bangladesh Army in 62 districts and the Bangladesh Navy in two coastal districts until Jan.10 to maintain law and order during the election.
The armed forces joined 1,151 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh forces and nearly 190,000 police personnel to ensure security during the election.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling Bangladesh Awami League are poised to win their fourth consecutive term, as most opposition parties, including Islamists and leftists, have boycotted the election.
The decision to boycott stems from Hasina’s refusal to dissolve her government and establish an interim administration to oversee the elections, a crucial demand from the opposition following allegations of poll fraud in 2018.
The opposition cites security force repression.
The BNP has decried the arrest of over 24,000 of its leaders and activists by the police since Oct. 28, when a major anti-government demonstration was quashed by security forces.
In response, the BNP initiated general strikes and blockades and urged the people to abstain from paying taxes and participating in the electoral process.
BNP leader Khaleda Zia is banned from politics.
Her son, interim party president Tarique Rahman, has been stuck in London since 2008 following multiple convictions, and the party’s secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, is in jail.
Tarique, in a video message on Saturday, urged all to refrain from voting and spend time with their families on the voting day.
“Regardless of what transpires on Jan. 7, this Awami League government remains illegal and illegitimate,” he said.
Voting will be held in 299 of 300 seats as authorities have suspended the election in one seat after a candidate died.
Some 1,900 candidates from 29 political parties, endorsed by the ruling Awami League, are contesting the election.
The Awami League did not field candidates in 32 seats in favor of its allies, which included late military dictator HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party, the ruling party’s hand-picked opposition in the current parliament.
The Awami League and BNP have led Bangladesh since 1991, except for a brief quasi-military government in 2007–2008. EFE
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