Bangladesh strike over

Unions fear job cuts

A strike in Bangladesh over the government's privatisation plans has ended peacefully after bringing the country to a standstill.

Schools, factories and ports shut down on Tuesday, while train services across the country were severely disrupted.

Authorities said they had deployed around 5,000 extra police in the capital Dhaka, and increased security in the port city of Chittagong.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government sees privatisation as way of making companies more competitive.

But unions and opposition parties fear job cuts, and say the sell-off of publicly owned firms is aimed at pleasing donors, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Shedding enterprises

The main opposition Awami League and a group of eleven left-wing political groups backed the strike.

"The government is making us jobless instead of creating more jobs. We can't accept it," said Shahidullah Chowdhury, a trade union leader.

The streets on Tuesday were empty

The government has listed 100 state-owned companies for privatisation by 2005, at the cost of about 150,000 jobs.

The World Bank has asked Bangladesh to dispose of 220 enterprises in the jute, textile, paper and food sectors to save state money for development and poverty alleviation.

Finance Ministry officials said state-owned enterprises cost the country 30 billion taka ($513 m) every year.

The IMF has agreed to provide Bangladesh with nearly $500m over the next three years.

A nationwide strike was last called on 28 August to protest at the killing of two politicians.