4 BD ministers quit over army deployment

DHAKA—Four members of Bangladesh’s interim government have quit in protest at the president’s decision to deploy the army to restore order ahead of January’s elections.
The resignations came despite assurances from President Iajuddin Ahmed that calling in the military would not harm the democratic process in the country, paralysed for weeks by opposition protests and bloody clashes. “We have sent our resignation letter to the president, because we think that no situation has been created in the country that warranted an army deployment,” interim cabinet member Sultana Kamal said on Monday.
The president ordered the deployment late on Saturday in a bid to restore order and counter opposition threats to conduct non-stop protests to force electoral reforms. The opposition, led by the Awami League, have alleged the January 23 polls will be rigged in favour of the outgoing Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
At least 34 people have also died in pre-election violence in the impoverished and politically polarised south Asian nation. Kamal said all the president’s 10 advisors, or cabinet members, had opposed the president’s move to deploy the armed forces.
“But he did not care,” she said. “The deployment of the army is against the democratic process ... it can provoke the political parties and create obstacles to holding a free and fair election.” The four cabinet members who quit included a former army chief, a former senior bureaucrat, a former foreign secretary and a human rights lawyer.
“The resignation of four advisers proves that a free and neutral election is impossible under President Iajuddin Ahmed,” said senior Awami League official Tofail Ahmed. “The president has been serving the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). I think unless he is removed as the head the caretaker government, we can not expect free and fair elections.”—Agencies