Police scuffled with protesters and arrested over 100 people yesterday during a daylong hartal called by the main opposition BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami to protest what they said moves to scrap the constitutional provision of holding parliamentary elections under a nonpartisan caretaker government.

Most shops and schools remained closed and traffic was disrupted during the dawn-to-dusk nationwide hartal that otherwise passed off without any major violence or clashes. Six home-made cocktails went off in parts of the capital, including three in front of BNP's central office at Naya Paltan.

Police detained more than 100 pickets in the capital and elsewhere as opposition activists attempted to take to the streets to

enforce the hartal, the fifth such shutdown by BNP since the Awami League-led grand alliance won the parliamentary polls held on December29,2008.

Several people were injured in the cocktail blasts and in scuffles with police, witnesses said.

The hartal was announced after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said last week there was no scope to keep the provision of non-partisan caretaker government after it was voided by the Supreme Court. However, the fate of the 15-year-old system will be decided by parliament.

Under the 13th amendment to the constitution, an elected government is required to hand over power at the end of its tenure to a non-partisan caretaker administration to oversee holding of parliamentary polls within three months.

In a recent verdict, the Supreme Court knocked off the 13th amendment, but advised that the next two parliamentary elections should be held under the existing caretaker system for

the sake of security of the state and the people.

Three successive parliamentary polls, largely seen as free and fair, were held under the caretaker government system since its introduction in 1996. The system came under scrutiny after

the last caretaker government, backed by the military, remained in power for two years jailing politicians, including Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia before holding the elections in December2008.

If the caretaker provision is finally repealed, the next general elections will be held under the supervision of the present Awami League-led government, a situation BNP does not want for fear of rigging.

The raging controversy over the caretaker system has already raised fears about political turmoil and a possible deadlock in the next parliamentary elections, due in 2014.

Khaleda Zia told a press conference on the eve of the hartal on Saturday that her party will boycott the election unless it is held under a caretaker government.

She threatened to announce even “tougher" programmes to press for continuation of the caretakersystem.

Sheikh Hasina denounced the hartal as “irrational" and urged the BNP to come to parliament to discuss the issue.

“Our door is always open,” the prime minister told a function marking the World Environment Day at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the country's apex business forum, has stepped into the debate calling for an

end to caretaker system.

Meanwhile, BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir accused the government of arresting the opposition members and harassing them.

"This is no longer a demo -cratic government. It has turned into an autocratic government," Mirza Fakhrul told BNP activists outside the party central office which was surrounded by police.

Police intervened whenever the protesters tried to come onto the streets or bring out a procession. Some senior leaders were seen scuffling with police to prevent the detention of women activists.

Mirza Fakhrul, however, claimed the hartal was successful and announced two-day programmes to protest the arrest and harassment of party workers. The party will hold protest rally in the city today and across the country in tomorrow.

“People have expressed their support to the caretaker government system by observing the hartal spontaneously. The government must change its stance against the system,” the BNP leader later said at a press briefing.

He claimed at least 600 leaders and workers were arrested, and 400 were injured across the country due to the police action. He demanded release of the arrested.

The government blamed the opposition for creating violence during the hartal.

Talking to journalists at his Secretariat office, State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Hoque Tuku said pro-hartal pickets damaged and set fire to vehicles to create panic..

Police said pickets damaged three human haulers at Rayerbazar but a number of motorised vehicles were seen plying in Mirpur and Pallabi as activists and leaders of Awami League and its associate organisations riding around 50 motorcycles were patrolling the areas to prevent pickets in the morning.

Three cocktails were exploded near BNP's Naya Paltan office, one was exploded in front Mukta Bangla shopping centre at Mirpur that left a ricksaw puller injured. Two more cocktails were exploded near Shilpakala Academy when police were dispersing a procession of Jatiyatabadhi Chatra Dal (JCD) men.

Police picked up 30 activists of BNP and its wings and associate bodies, including JCD leader Saiful Islam Feroz, as they tried to enter the Naya Paltan party office, which was almost cordoned off since morning. A journalist and a policeman got injured in a cocktail explosion in a lane near the BNP office. Later, Rab raided nearby offices and hotels.

Police also held 14 BNP men from Mohakhali crossing in the morning when they were trying to bring out a processions led by Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Selima Rahman.

DMP Deputy Commissioner Khandaker Lutful Kabir said they were arrested on charge of obstructing vehicular movement.

Three JCD men were picked up from Raysaheb Bazar in Old Dhaka for attempting to bring out a procession at about 10:45am.

Pro-BNP lawyers held rallies on court premises in support of the hartal.

A group of Jamaat workers brought out a procession led by party lawmaker Hamidur Rahman at Motijheel but dispersed voluntarily when they saw police coming towards them.