The 2000s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on 1 January 2000, and ended on 31 December 2009. For Bangladesh this decade was characterized by strife among the political parties over the caretaker government system for managing the national elections. Continued rapid urbanisation and globalization influenced the socio-economic and cultural activities of the country in this decade. Politics and national life Political transition In July 2001, the incumbent Bangladesh Awami League government stepped down to allow a caretaker government to preside over parliamentary elections. Political violence that had increased during the Bangladesh Awami League government's tenure continued to increase through the summer in the run up to the election. In August, The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed during a visit of former President Jimmy Carter to respect the results of the election, join Parliament win or lose, forswear the use of hartals (violently enforced strikes) as political tools, and if successful in forming a government allow for a more meaningful role for the opposition in Parliament. The caretaker government was successful in containing the violence, which allowed a parliamentary general election to be successfully held on 1 October 2001. Second Khaleda administration, 2001–2006 The Four Party Alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won over a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Begum Khaleda Zia was sworn in on 10 October 2001, as Prime Minister for the third time (first in 1991, second after the 15 February 1996 elections). Despite her August 2001 pledge and all election monitoring groups declaring the election free and fair, Sheikh Hasina condemned the election, rejected the results, and boycotted Parliament. In 2002, however, she led her party legislators back to Parliament, but the Bangladesh Awami League again walked out in June 2003 to protest derogatory remarks about Hasina by a State Minister and the allegedly partisan role of the Parliamentary Speaker. In June 2004, the AL returned to Parliament without having any of their demands met. They then attended Parliament irregularly before announcing a boycott of the entire June 2005 budget session. On 17 August 2005, near-synchronized blasts of improvised explosive devices in 63 out of 64 administrative districts targeted mainly government buildings and killed two persons. An extremist Islamist group named Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) claimed responsibility for the blasts, which aimed to press home JMB's demand for a replacement of the secular legal system with