By Anis Ahmed DHAKA, June 6 (Reuters) - A call for national unity by the party of detained former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia was immediately rebuffed on Friday by its biggest rival in a sign the country's political cracks are as wide as ever. Khandaker Delwar Hossain, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and whose leader is in detention awaiting a corruption trial, appealed to the Awami League for unity ahead of elections scheduled for later this year. "Please respond positively to our call for unity at least once, for God's sake and in the interest of the country," he said late on Thursday. But the offer was immediately rebuffed. "We have already made our principled stance known to them (BNP) and the whole nation that unity with the BNP, even amid a crisis, is not possible," said Awami general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam. "Their policy and ideology are different from us. They make allies of fanatics and foes of the country. They help terrorists," he told reporters. The Awami League, whose leader Sheikh Hasina is also in detention on graft charges, has criticised the BNP for an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's biggest religion-based party. Awami and its allies accuse Jamaat of helping the Pakistani army in human rights violations during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, which Jamaat denies. They also accuse the Jamaat of harbouring Islamist militants responsible for a series of bomb and grenade attacks in 2004-05 when Khaleda was in power. Hasina escaped death in one attack which killed 23 Awami leaders and workers at a Dhaka rally, but she suffered serious hearing impairment. An army-backed interim government headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed took charge in Bangladesh in January 2007, following deadly violence between supporters of Hasina and Khaleda. It imposed emergency rule, banned political activity, cancelled an election planned for January 22 last year, and detained hundreds of key political figures including Hasina and Khaleda, for alleged corruption. The two women, both ex prime minister's and called "battling Begums" for their never-ending rivalries, are in separate jails in the capital Dhaka. Hasina and Khaleda have both told the courts that the interim government put them on trials on "false, motivated and fictitious" charges, seeking to drive them from the election race and thwart their political future. Political analysts believe the rejection of unity call by Hasina's party will weaken both parties and reduce their chances to win in the coming polls. Both the Awami League and the BNP have said they will boycott the election without their top leaders. (Editing by David Fox)
A staff member packs a customer's items into a plastic bag at a supermarket in Changzhi, Shanxi province June 1, 2008. China is about to try to kick a 3 billion-a-day ...
