Bangladesh's opposition Awami League party held a six-hour mass hunger strike in capital Dhaka on Monday to mount pressure on the military-backed caretaker government to release party chief Sheikh Hasina and send her to the United States for medical treatment.

Authorities allowed the party to hold the hunger strike though such protests are banned under emergency laws. The country's president declared a state of emergency on January 11 last year days before the scheduled parliament elections.

The Awami League acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said, “We don’t want to break the law. We want the release of Sheikh Hasina so that she can go abroad for treatment.”Meanwhile, Hasina has expressed her resolve to take part in the elections.