Impatience grows in Dhaka

Bangladesh is braced for further tension as frustrations grow over the military-backed caretaker administration.

When it came to power in January after the postponement of general elections, the administration was welcomed. It promised to end the constant bickering of the dominant two political parties -- the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) and overhaul the political system. A high-profile campaign against corruption involving the arrest of senior politicians -- and seizure of dozens of exotic pets, giant cars and pieces of art –- also raised hopes.

Yet efforts to sideline the AL and BNP leaders, former Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Khaleda Zia, have failed, along with plans to foster internal party reform.  An attempt to create an alternative new party under the leadership of Nobel prize winner and microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus also came to grief.  Suspicions that the corruption crusade has failed are weighing heavily on the AL, leaving parties that have closer links to the military relatively untouched. Frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the government, the military is taking a larger role in the caretaker administration.  Opposition to the military's presence on university campuses sparked a wave of protests in August. It was cut short by the imposition of a curfew, but the underlying issues that caused the protests remain.