Bangladesh politics turns volatile as election season approaches

Shooting, exiled leader's return, and alliances heighten tensions before crucial polls.

- CORRESPONDENT

Ahead of the national parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, the political situation hasbecome heated. A leader named Osman Hadi, who was one of the prominent figures in the movement against Sheikh Hasina and a potential independent candidate for the Dhaka-8 constituency, was shot on Friday. Hiscondition is critical. Heis also the top leader of a platform called “Ingilab Manch”. This incident of violence has stirred considerable tension in the political arena.

Another significant development in Bangladesh's politics is that the former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s son and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)'s Acting Chairman, Tarique Rahman, is returning to the country on December 25 after nearly 17 years of exile in London. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir has informed the journalists of this development.

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has said those behind the attack on Sharif Osman Hadi, as well as those who planned it, must be arrested as quickly as possible. He made the remark during an emergency meeting at the state guest-

house Jamuna on Friday night with several members of the Advisory Council and key officials from law enforcement and security agencies, according to the CA press wing.