DHAKA, 23 September 2004 — US Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged Bangladesh’s main opposition party to stop calling strikes that cost the cash-strapped country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and productivity.
“I encourage a rapid end to the strikes that threaten the country’s economy and stability,” Powell said in a letter to opposition Awami League party leader Hasina Wajed released yesterday.
The Awami League has called some 18 strikes since February which are each estimated to cost the nation $60 million. Strikes were also called by the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party when it was in opposition. “Strikes as a means of protest are part of democratic culture all over the world and are not exclusive to Bangladesh,” Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil said in reaction to Powell’s comments.
“Until and unless we are forced to, we don’t call general strikes — actually the government compels us to do this,” Jalil said. Most of the opposition strikes have been called as part of a campaign to oust the government. More recent shutdowns have been in protest over an Aug. 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally which killed 21 people.
In a new protest yesterday, Awami League supporters formed a human chain through the capital Dhaka that paralyzed traffic for more than an hour, leaving frustrated commuters no choice but to abandon buses and taxis and walk. “No more 21 August,” was written on most banners held by the demonstrators. The Awami League has accused Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s government of being behind last month’s grenade attack. The government has denied the allegation.
Powell urged Hasina to give evidence to the judicial inquiry on the assault. “It is critical that all Bangladeshis cooperate fully with these investigations,” he said. Hasina has so far refused to work with the inquiry, demanding an “independent, international” probe into all recent blasts in Bangladesh.
