Bangladesh Oppn holds massive rally

Bangladesh’s main opposition party BNP on Monday set a June 10 deadline for the government to restore the nonpartisan caretaker system to supervise the next general election and held a massive rally to press their demand.

“If you do not restore neutral, non-party (caretaker government) system by June 10, we’ll hold another grand rally on June 11 and take necessary steps,” Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief and former prime minister, told the rally of an estimated 2,00,000 activists and supporters in front of the party’s office in the capital.

During her 90-minute speech, she also called a nationwide one-day general strike on March 29 to protest the government attempts to prevent its leaders and activists from joining the rally in the city.

Zia launched a scathing attack on arch rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her government’s “pro-India policy”.