SUPPORTER WITH KHALEDA'S POSTER AT RALLY IN RUPGANJ, 1999-08-27 (photo)

A half-veiled supporter of Bangladesh opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia holds up a poster showing Khaleda and her party's traditional election symbol "sheaf of paddy" at a rally in Rupganj, 20 km from Dhaka, August 26 during a "road march." The march, which Khaleda led, was in protest against the government's plan to allow Indian goods to be transported by Bangladeshi trucks to landlocked northeast Indian states. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh could earn $400 million a year if the plan was okayed by experts and led to a formal agreement. Khaleda on Thursday called for a siege of capital Dhaka on September 9 unless Hasina abandoned the controversial passage plan before then. Khaleda and her allies say the plan, if executed, might threaten Bangladesh's sovereignty. Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is demanding early election to see Hasina quit, though the next parliamentary poll is not due before 2001. AN/DL/cc