REUTERS/Mohammad... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreDHAKA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's main opposition party will boycott the next general election if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not make way for a neutral government to conduct the poll, two party leaders said, amid a crackdown on opposition politicians and deadly protests.
"The intensified crackdown on opposition party leaders and protesters over the weekend signals an attempt at a complete clamp-down on dissent," said Yasasmin Kaviratne, Amnesty's regional campaigner for South Asia.
Hasina's main rival and two-time premier, BNP leader Khaleda Zia, is effectively under house arrest for what her party calls trumped-up corruption charges.
Shakil Ahmed, an assistant professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, said street violence had become "regular in Bangladesh during the transfer of power".
Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Sheikh Hasina, Hasina, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Zahir Uddin Swapon, Yasasmin Kaviratne, Khaleda Zia, BNP's, Tarique Rahman, Shakil Ahmed, Krishna N, Ruma Paul, Raju Gopalakrishnan
Organizations:
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, REUTERS, Reuters, Amnesty, Police, Jahangirnagar University, Das, Thomson
Locations:
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mohammad, DHAKA, United States, Canada, India, South Asia, New Delhi