{"id":3297,"date":"2014-01-06T07:20:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T07:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2014-01-06T07:20:30","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T07:20:30","slug":"violence-mars-bangladesh-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"images\/stories\/news3\/violence-Mars-Bangladesh-Polls.jpg\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; margin: 5px;\" \/>Following weeks of unrest, Bangladeshis went to polling stations for general elections on Sunday, January 5, amid heavy security following the arson of at least 120 polling stations across the impoverished country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI don\u2019t really want to vote as I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a proper election with only the ruling party candidates participating,\u201d Anwar Hossain told Agence France Presse (AFP) outside a polling station in Dhaka\u2019s Azimpur neighborhood.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cBut I am scared about what might happen if I don\u2019t as the candidates might think I am anti-Awami League.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Polling stations for the general elections opened on Sunday morning amid wide opposition boycott.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ahead of Sunday\u2019s vote, six people were killed as police said more than 200 polling stations had been attacked since late Saturday into early Sunday, and officers guarding the booths were also targeted.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With the fear of attacks limiting turnout and around 150 people killed in the build-up to voting, tens of thousands of troops were deployed across the country.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWe\u2019ve seen thousands of protestors attack polling booths and our personnel at a number of locations with Molotov cocktails and petrol bombs,\u201d Bogra\u2019s police chief Syed Abu Sayem told AFP.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe situation is extremely volatile.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There were similar reports in the northern Rangpur region, where police said they had shot one person dead as protesters snatched stacks of ballot papers.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Two other opposition activists were shot dead by police in similar incidents elsewhere in the north, and a fourth in the coastal Feni district.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A polling officer who was beaten up by a group of opposition supporters died of his injuries, as did a truck driver whose vehicle had been firebombed.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Officials from the US, the UN and elsewhere tried and failed to broker an agreement so that an election could be held with the agreement of both sides.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Months of conflict have damaged the country\u2019s reputation as a south Asian democracy and severely disrupted the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Farce<\/strong><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The opposition has dismissed as farcical the election called by Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister and leader of the governing Awami League.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cNo one at home and abroad will legitimize this farce of an election,\u201d Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party, said in a statement in the capital Dhaka, where her supporters say she is effectively under house arrest, Financial Times reported.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe Awami League will emerge from its veneer of legality to its illegal self.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The elections were called by Sheikha Hasina following weeks of rallies and street protests called by the BNP which called for a neutral caretaker administration to manage the elections..<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The call, however, was widely rejected by opposition who called for boycotting the elections, leaving 153 parliamentary seats, out of the 300, uncontested and will be won by the Awami League and its allies.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The government insisted it was constitutionally obliged to hold the election this month, but acknowledged that it would not have a full mandate and would need to hold another election, provided it could reach agreement with the BNP.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWithout a major party participating\u2026 the mandate that this election will render is of a limited value,\u201d said Gowher Rizvi, an adviser to Ms Hasina.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe dialogue is still open.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWhat has happened in the past six months is a particular tragedy, a tragedy of the worst type,\u201d he said.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cOnce again our reputation is of an unstable democracy, and to that extent we are very, very concerned. But we are also confident that the problem can be resolved.\u201d<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, the New York-based group, urged the government to end its crackdown on the opposition, including arbitrary arrests, and called on the opposition in turn to stop violence by its supporters.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe international community should remind Bangladesh that the world is watching and that the deteriorating rights climate cannot continue,\u201d said Brad Adams, the group\u2019s Asia director.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source:<\/span> <strong><em>OnIslam<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following weeks of unrest, Bangladeshis went to polling stations for general elections on Sunday, January 5, amid heavy security following the arson of at least 120 polling stations across the impoverished country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following weeks of unrest, Bangladeshis went to polling stations for general elections on Sunday, January 5, amid heavy security following the arson of at least 120 polling stations across the impoverished country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SunniOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"majed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"majed\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"headline\":\"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":649,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Muslim World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/\",\"name\":\"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/2014\\\/01\\\/06\\\/3297\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"SunniOnline\",\"description\":\"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be\",\"name\":\"majed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"majed\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sunnionline.us\\\/english\\\/author\\\/majed\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline","og_description":"Following weeks of unrest, Bangladeshis went to polling stations for general elections on Sunday, January 5, amid heavy security following the arson of at least 120 polling stations across the impoverished country.","og_url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/","og_site_name":"SunniOnline","article_published_time":"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00","author":"majed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"majed","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/"},"author":{"name":"majed","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"headline":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls","datePublished":"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/"},"wordCount":649,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Muslim World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/","url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/","name":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls - SunniOnline","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-06T07:20:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/01\/06\/3297\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Violence Mars Bangladesh Polls"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#website","url":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/","name":"SunniOnline","description":"The Official Website of Sunni Community in Iran","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/26da0e970ff572e94f1b7d9009ab39be","name":"majed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d14a5567692b3eb9bd620c2cb94ec98fcf8d44e4ec418fc172b76b04163a7ee9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"majed"},"url":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/author\/majed\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}