Opposition enforced strike, blockade caused nearly 13 bln USD loss: Bangladeshi PM

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the country had incurred a loss of over 1 trillion taka (nearly 13 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 52 days of the opposition's blockade and strike, local media reported Thursday.

Since the indefinite blockade started, 101 people had been killed and 1,173 vehicles torched and vandalised, she told the parliament replying to a lawmaker's tabled question.

The premier said ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies including key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party had been resorting to subversive activities only to stop the ongoing war crimes trial and get rid of the nine cases filed against Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman and the lawsuits against the alliance leaders.

In her scheduled question-answer session, Hasina termed these subversive activities grave crimes punishable with death.

The ruling Bangladesh Awami League party chief Hasiana urged BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to stop killing people, and warned of legal actions if sabotage and killings are not stopped immediately.

Khaleda Zia's opposition 20-party alliance has been observing the nonstop blockade across the country since Jan. 5 demanding fresh elections under a non-party caretaker government system.

On top of its blockade campaign, BNP and its 19 allies including key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party have been observing strike at regular intervals since the last month.

The alliance Tuesday extended its ongoing 72-hour nationwide strike till Friday morning in protest against what it said the killings of opposition men in the name of shootouts.

The fresh wave of violence has left scores of people dead and hundreds injured. Endi