Bangladesh’s main opposition party plans mass rally as tensions run high ahead of general election

By JULHAS ALAM and KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s main opposition party plans to hold a mass rally on Saturday in the capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the transfer of power to a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee general elections next year. But the ruling Awami League party has warned that any attempt to trigger violence would be met with force. It said it would hold a “peace rally” near the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s headquarters, where supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the party’s leader, also plan to gather. The rising tensions come amid a diplomatic row between Hasina’s government and the U.S. over Bangladesh’s moves to undermine the election process.