DHAKA, Feb. 9 (NsNewsWire) — Anxieties spread Bangladesh over the unabated political violence which has left scores of people dead, mostly in arson attacks, and hundreds injured since last month.

The fresh wave of violence broke out on Jan. 5 after former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s 20-party opposition alliance had called for countrywide nonstop blockade since Jan. 6 and asked its supporters to take to the street for a new election under a non- party caretaker government system, reports Xinhua.

On top of its ongoing countrywide nonstop blockade that entered 34th day on Sunday, Zia’s 20-party alliance has also been observing countrywide strike at a regular intervals since last month.

Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led opposition alliance has called another round of nationwide strike from Sunday morning protesting “arrest and killing of its leaders and activists.”

Dozens of vehicles were smashed or set on fire in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country on the first day of the 72-hour strike on Sunday.

With nearly a dozen deaths on Friday and Saturday, as many as 67 people were reportedly killed in the ongoing violence, mostly in the form of arson attacks on cargo and passenger vehicles.

The official death toll was not available in the fresh wave of violence.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) party blamed the main opposition party for creating anarchic situation in the name of political activities and urged opposition leader to withdraw strike announcement.

Zia has claimed that their movement is peaceful.

Both sides are now blaming each other for the violence.

At least seven passengers were burnt to death and 16 others were injured on early Tuesday as miscreants hurled a bomb at a bus full of sleeping passengers in Bangladesh’s eastern Comilla district.

The number of passenger journeys has fallen for all local long route bus operators.Passengers feel more afraid after a number of terror acts, said an official of a long route bus company.

The official who preferred to be unnamed said blockade has brought miseries to both the owners and workers, but the latter are the worst sufferers because their living was affected.

“Many have canceled their plans for winter holidays for fear of riding buses,” he added.

People prefer staying at home instead of going out as petrol bombs in the city had already become a regular occurrence.

Bangladesh Police Chief AKM Shahidul Haque Saturday asked buses owners in the country to stop long-distance buses at night to avoid petrol bomb attacks amid the ongoing country-wide indefinite blockade and a series of work stoppages.

Hasina last week ruled out the possibility of declaring state of emergency in Bangladesh to tackle spiraling political violence.

“No such situation has been arisen in the country to impose state of emergency. Law enforcers are there. They are taking all required measures to contain violence. People are with us,” she said.

But things seem still beyond the control of her state machinery with the incidents of arson attacks across the country remained unabated as of Sunday.

Zia has urged her party men to continue blockade until the government agree to sit in a dialogue on holding a free, fair and inclusive election.

BNP and its allies including key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, which boycotted last January parliament elections, have recently tabled a seven-point proposal to Hasina’s government for an immediate “inclusive general election.”

Hasina’s AL party has already rejected the proposals.