This Eid, the Muslim equivalent of Christmas, about 5 million people left
Dhaka to celebrate in their home villages. With over a third of the city’s residents away the city has been transformed. People walk freely along the street, traffic flows smoothly and the perpetual smog that hangs in the air has dissipated. The peace and quiet should have continued throughout the week, but it was violently interrupted by nationwide hartals (strikes) and riots. To date 24 men are dead and over 2000 are injured. Shops have been looted, political activists beaten, buses trashed and trains derailed.
The cause of all this destruction is the forthcoming elections in January.
Bangladesh is unusual in that power passes to a caretaker government for 3 months at election time. The two main political parties have been unable to agree on this interim government. The main candidate has strong links to the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and is thus unacceptable to the opposition Awami League (AL). The tension is likely to continue for a few more days, so for the time being I’m laying low like so many of the people in
Dhaka.
