By John Sudworth BBC News, Dhaka

Ishaque and Monowara are now homeless

Mohammed Ishaque sits on top of a mound of rubble which is all that is left of his home.

He has lived in this Dhaka slum, with his wife Monowara, for the past 12 years.

Their baby daughter Maraym was born here. Now the family is homeless.

Ishaque's home was one of more than a 1,000 on this patch of land which have been flattened as part of the emergency government's drive against unauthorised settlements.

He tells me the government should do something to help him and thousands of his neighbours who are now living on the street.

Some aid organisations estimate that in the first two months of emergency rule more than 50,000 people have been evicted from more than a dozen slums in Dhaka alone.

Tens of thousands more in the capital city have had their livelihoods destroyed as the authorities also target the illegally constructed roadside stalls and shops.

It is a picture repeated in cities across the country.

'Lack of focus'

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya from the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue says the poor have been caught up in a catch-all drive against all forms of illegality by the new government.

"One of the reasons why this kind of thing is happening is because there is a lack of strategy and focus," he tells me.

"These poor people living in slums are in fact the major victims of corruption, so they should be the natural partners in the government's anti-corruption drive. The government is unnecessarily causing a backlash."

Aid groups say more than 50,000 people have been evicted

But despite the demolitions the anti-corruption drive means, for the moment at least, the government is maintaining its popularity.

There has been widespread support in the mainstream press for its arrest and detention of dozens of high profile politicians and businessmen.

The emergency administration came to power in January amid widespread political violence that led to a cancelled general election.

Its new leader, former central bank governor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, believes that the breakdown in Bangladesh's political culture can be traced to the corruption of its political elite.

So he has made tackling graft a priority and a precondition to restoring democracy.

Worn down by 16 years of confrontational politics under the leadership of Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League, most ordinary people say they are happy to give the government time to clean up politics before fresh polls are held.

Detentions

There is also little apparent concern that the military is seen to be pulling the strings of the new government as well as having direct involvement in the anti-corruption drive.

The long-dormant National Security Council is being reconstituted, giving the military chiefs a formal means of expressing views about the way the country is run, and a potential veto over government decisions.

Eight central and 64 district-based anti-corruption task forces have been created, comprising members of the army, the Rapid Action Battalion and the different intelligence agencies.

Mohammed Ishaque wants government help

The teams are being coordinated by the general officer commanding of the Bangladesh Nine Infantry Division, Major General Masud Uddin Chowdhury.

And they have been busy. At least 45 high-profile figures with links to both the main political parties have been arrested and detained.

Tarique Rahman, the influential son of the last prime minister, Khaleda Zia, is among the latest to be picked up by the security forces.

The government says it has begun filing cases against some of the accused.

Moudud Ahmed, a former BNP law minister, has not been arrested, but is facing allegations of tax evasion.

He denies the charge, and says many of the accusations against his former colleagues are exaggerated.

"Firstly, it is only a small section of the leaders who have been arrested on charges of corruption," he says.

"Secondly, if they're proved to be guilty the party will not stand by them."

Hit hard

But, he says; "Actually there has been a lot of exaggeration. Relating to my own case it is a kind of hassle, political harassment, but I think I will be able to overcome it."

Bangladesh has come a long way in two months. Plucked from the brink of anarchy and street violence by an emergency government that has managed to restore a sense of order.

It has also achieved something many people thought they would never see in their lifetime - bringing powerful people, long rumoured to be involved in corruption, before the law.

But in many cases the poor have been hit as hard as the wealthy. The demolition drive has left tens of thousands without jobs or homes.

"We are living without electricity or shelter, literally on the street," one man tells me.