New party launched in Bangladesh to give nation fresh start

DHAKA (AFP) - Rebels from Bangladesh's two main parties launched a new party on Saturday in what they said was a bid to create corruption-free politics in the south Asian country.

The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) will break from the politics of corruption and confrontation that has marked the histories of the country's two main parties, Ferdous Hasan Quraishi, the convenor of the new organization said.

"We have support of around 100 former lawmakers from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League. We will be centrist and moderate democrats," Quraishi told a news conference.

"The leaders of the two parties made the country the world's top corrupt nation. They divided the country along their party lines. We want a new beginning with fresh ideas and fresh faces," he added.

Quraishi was founding joint secretary of the BNP in 1978 and is the editor of the independent national daily Desh Bangla.

Bangladesh has been led alternately by the BNP's Khaleda Zia and the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina Wajed over the past 16 years and both have been blamed for widespread corruption and ceaseless political turmoil in the country.

The country's president imposed a state of emergency and canceled controversial polls in January this year after months of political unrest claimed at least 35 lives.