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DHAKA: Bangladesh has scrambled to form a new government after its president postponed general elections and declared a state of emergency, bowing to opposition demands following months of street protests.
President Iajuddin Ahmed stepped aside as head of the interim government to clear the way for a new caretaker administration with the difficult task of steering the country towards free and fair polls.
His announcements Thursday night ended a string of violent and crippling nationwide strikes and blockades by the main opposition Awami League and its allies which had said they would boycott the January 22 polls.
Speaking in a televised address to the nation a day after deploying 60,000 troops nationwide, Ahmed said the opposition's threat to resume its protests from Sunday had left Bangladesh facing a "grave situation."
Citing a danger of the situation spiralling out of control Friday, he declared a state of emergency that also included a ban on all political gatherings.
A nationwide night-time curfew was, however, lifted on Friday in a sign of improved stability in the nation in the wake of Thursday's measures.
The new caretaker chief was tipped to be former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed, seen as politically independent, after micro-credit pioneer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus turned down the job.
A swearing-in ceremony was expected to be held at 7:00 pm (1300 GMT).
All but one of the caretaker government's 10-member advisory council also resigned overnight.
Ahmed said in his address that the new caretaker government would "hold dialogue with all the parties, and prepare for new elections within the shortest possible time." He did not specify when they would be held.
The last state of emergency in Bangladesh was in October 1990, before the ousting of military dictator Hossain Muhammad Ershad.
But despite the reintroduction of democracy 16 years ago, both main parties of the Awami League and Bangladesh National Party (BNP) have regularly boycotted parliament and staged national strikes as negotiating tactics when in opposition.
Earlier this week, riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at street protesters in the latest eruption of violence during blockades called by the opposition.
The secular, Muslim-majority country of 144 million has a history of coups and counter coups since winning independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The opposition alleges the outgoing BNP sought to rig the upcoming elections by drawing up a voter list containing 14 million fake names.
More than 35 people have been killed in the pre-election unrest since late October when the interim authority took over from the BNP-led government.
The Awami League welcomed the postponement of the elections saying that by "admitting the voter list had errors and quitting as head of the interim government, he (the president) has in fact accepted our main demands".
The announcements came after the United Nations also said that pressing ahead with the polls could see the Bangladesh army stripped of its lucrative and prestigious "blue helmet" peacekeeping duties.
In the capital, most people appeared to be breathing a sigh of relief that weeks of violence have given way to some sense of normality.
"Today, after a long time, I can walk freely and without tension in the city. Calm has come everywhere," Mahmudul Islam Apu, a student, told AFP as he walked past the heavily-fortified presidential palace in Dhaka.
Both the United States and Britain released statements Friday regretting the need for an emergency and urging the caretaker government and the political parties to work together to enable credible elections to go ahead. - AFP/ir
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