Jamaat enforces shutdown in Bangladesh

DHAKA: Bangladesh's largest party Jamaat-e-Islami is enforcing a 48-hour general strike across the country to denounce a court decision that its registration with the Election Commission is invalid.

On Aug. 1, a High Court panel ruled that the Jamaat-e-Islami party's regulations violate the constitutional provision of secularism by saying it wants to impose Sharia law.

Because of the court decision the party could be barred from taking part in the next elections.
TV stations report that party activists took to the streets, blocked roads and burned tires to enforce the shutdown across the country on Tuesday, the first day of the shutdown.

No major violence was reported. The ruling came amid calls to ban the party for opposing the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.