Dhaka grinds to a halt

A shutdown of most modes of public transportation connecting Dhaka with the rest of the country has cut off the capital ahead of a major rally by the opposition combine on Monday.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Khaleda Zia, who is to address Monday's rally, said the government had chosen the politics of vengeance and warned that the result would be “dangerous”.

BNP leaders claimed that more than 3,000 opposition activists had been arrested in a bid to block them from reaching Dhaka. The police said they had arrested some people.

The Sheikh Hasina-led government views the rally as a bid to foil the ongoing trial of those accused of committing war crimes during the 1971 liberation war.