The World - News from Dec. 24, 1987

Opposition leaders claimed that a campaign to oust President Hussain Mohammed Ershad has “shattered the economy” of Bangladesh, long one of the world’s poorest countries, and they pledged that general strikes and other protests will continue until Ershad resigns. To mark the end of the most recent general strike, Khaleda Zia of the Nationalist Party told followers that “the movement has shattered the economy and immobilized the administration.” Sources in the governing Jatiya Party said that Ershad’s finance minister, Mohammed Syedduzzaman, already has resigned, although they said his reasons were personal.