A week out from an election, there are daily riots in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. An alliance of the major opposition parties have refused to contest the upcoming polls unless the caretaker government is replaced. They accuse the caretaker leadership of being biased and rigging the election in favour of the incumbent Bangladesh Nationalist Party, especially after fake voter lists were discovered being distributed throughout the country.

In a protest practice unique to the region, and derived from the days of British rule, there are daily transportation blockades across the country, halting ports, cars, buses and trains. My mother is currently there, holed up in a village, desperately trying to find a way to the airport and back to Sydney.

It is an example of the fragility of democracy in the region, along with the recent coup in Thailand, President Musharraf’s increasingly autocratic rule in Pakistan and the ongoing stranglehold of the military junta in Burma.

The principal conflict within the nation of 140 million people are the forces representative of secular nationalism and those touting Islamic extremism. Just days ago police found bomb making materials and a book on jihad during raids on a group of overzealous protesters.

It reflects a similar conflict of ideas being played out in many parts of the world, most notably Iraq. The Australian Federal Police are in the process of setting up an office in Bangladesh, reflecting its strategic concerns about the country spiralling further into chaos.

With fresh plans by the opposition to mount an all-out assault on the Presidential Palace, there are growing fears the capital could deteriorate into civil war. The caretaker says it is not within its powers to postpone the election, but senior advisers said fresh talks have arisen to find a way out of the crisis.