Bangladesh Crisis Sparks Riots, Defections

President Iajuddin Ahmed was sworn in as head of a caretaker government that will oversee Bangladesh until general elections next year, moving to resolve a political crisis that had paralyzed the South Asian country and left at least 18 people dead.

Ahmed takes over from outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, whose government completed its five-year term on Friday.

Chief Justice J.R. Mudassir swore in Ahmed, who will continue to act as the country's titular president, at a ceremony at the presidential office.

Bangladesh's opposition, which launched the protests that left 18 people dead and hundreds injured, had demanded a nonpartisan leader and had said previously that Ahmed - who was elected as a candidate of Zia's party - was an unacceptable choice.

Opposition protesters had accused the outgoing administration of trying to rig the elections, and while Zia attended the swearing-in ceremony at the president's office, the main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina did not.

The president earlier Sunday held talks with leading politicians to try to defuse the political crisis sparked by the choice of a retired chief justice with ties to the outgoing government.

At least 18 people have been killed since Friday, including three politicians linked to the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and hundreds injured in violence sparked by the appointment of K. M. Hasan, a retired chief justice with ties to the outgoing government, to head a nonpartisan caretaker administration. Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Bangladesh for a third day Sunday, as the president worked to end the political impasse over who should oversee upcoming elections.

The violence abated somewhat after word of Hasan's refusal to take the position, but on Sunday, thousands of protesters took part in a sit-in, blocking roads for the third day in a row, awaiting word on who would take his place.

President Ahmed on Sunday opened talks with leaders of major political parties to discuss who should head a caretaker administration to oversee upcoming election. There were widespread fears that street fighting seen on Friday and Saturday could again flare up if Sunday's talks failed.

The deadly violence began on Friday as the government of Prime Minister Zia — which ended its five-year term Saturday — had invited Hasan to lead Bangladesh until the general election due in January.

The opposition alliance, however, refused to accept Hasan as caretaker chief, saying he once belonged to Zia's and could not therefore be impartial as required under the Constitution.

The choice of Hasan sparked riots across the country. Riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots to disperse thousands of stone-throwing protesters in the capital, Dhaka. Thousands of protesters blocked highways leading into Dhaka, cutting off the city of 10 million people from the rest of the country, TV footage showed.

Angry mobs smashed or burned vehicles and Zia's party offices, along with tires and furniture looted from nearby shops.

Bangladeshi business leaders voiced their concern about political violence, asking the warring political parties to resolve the impasse over appointing a caretaker government to oversee an upcoming election.

Widespread protests that have halted transportation across Bangladesh have paralyzed the country's main seaport, a port official said Sunday.

Thousands of containers are stockpiled at the Chittagong seaport, 135 miles southeast of the capital, Dhaka, port official Ahsanul Kabir told The Associated Press.

"The political unrest is hurting the country's economy," said Mir Nasir Hossain, president of Bangladesh Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an apex grouping of the businessmen.

"Law and order is going down and violence is spreading across the country," Hossain said.

Meanwhile, the European Union in a statement Sunday called for "a peaceful, democratic and constitutional solution" to the establishment of the caretaker government.

"We are confident that the competent political authorities and forces of Bangladesh will join to bring about such a peaceful and constrictive solution," said the statement issued in Dhaka by the
embassy of Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency.

Zia can stay in power for a maximum of 15 more days until the interim administration is installed, according to the Constitution.

Zia's departure has been further clouded by the defection from her party of more than two dozen politicians protesting alleged corruption and incompetence in her administration.

Impoverished Bangladesh has a history of political unrest. It has spent more than 15 years under military rule since its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Both Zia and opposition leader Sheikh Hasina led a pro-democracy movement in 1990, ousting the country's last military ruler, Gen. Hossain Mohammad Ershad.

The two politicians have been locked in political bickering since then.