HC questions RPO provision

The High Court wants to know why a section of the Representation of People Order (RPO), going by which candidacy of Tangail MP Abul Kashem was cancelled and BNP candidate Mahmudul Hasan was declared the winner, should not be declared to be contrary to the Constitution.  The bench of Justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Jahangir Hossain issued the rule on Tuesday following a writ petition filed by 25 voters of the Tangail-5 constituency.

The court ordered the Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission Secretary and Mahmudul Hasan, who had been declared winner of the Dec 29 2008polls, to respond within 12 days.  The candidature of Kashem, a candidate of ruling Awami League's key ally Jatiya Party in the ninth parliament elections, had been cancelled in line with the Section 51 (2) (B).

Yusuf Hossain Humayun and Mohammad Bakir Uddin Bhuiyan represented the petitioners while Deputy Attorney General A B M Altaf Hossain and Assistant Attorney General Yadia Zaman argued for the government at the hearing. "The court expressed the hope that Mahmudul Hasan will not be sworn in before the hearing on the rule is finished," Zaman told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

Bhuiyan said the Election Commission, with the authority given by the Section, had declared Hasan, who got second highest votes, the winner.  "We have said in the writ petition that the Commission can hold the election again if the candidacy of the winner is cancelled so that the people of the constituency can elect a new representative," he said.

"People's representation cannot be secured if anyone who got fewer votes is declared the winner. It runs contrary to the Sections 7 and 11 of the Constitution," he added.  The High Court also asked why the gazette declaring Mahmudul the winner should not be declared unconstitutional, Bhuiyan said.  Kashem had polled 147,152 votes to Hasan's 72,805 votes.

Hasan had moved the High Court in 2009 contending that Kashem had defaulted on payments of Sonali Bank loan and had outstanding phone bills.  The High Court on Dec 15, 2009 ordered the EC to cancel Kashem's candidature and declare Hasan the winner.

On Feb 14 this year, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Mohammad Muzammal Hossain rejected an appeal of Kashem and ordered that Hasan be declared winner in a week.  The Election Commission issued the gazette in this regard on May 7 after getting a copy of the High Court order on Apr 29.  The Speaker of Parliament, however, did not administer the oath of Hasan and preferred waiting for a verdict on a petition filed by Kashem to review the previous order. 

Nationwide shutdown on Thursday

The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance will enforce a dawn-to-dusk general strike countrywide on Thursday in protest at a Dhaka court sending 33 opposition leaders to jail in an arson case. National Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan announced the decision at a press briefing in the party's Naya Paltan headquarters in the afternoon on Wednesday.

"The people of the country will surely understand that we had no wish to call a programme like hartal considering [public sufferings]," he explained. He added that they were left with no other option to protest against the government's 'undemocratic, fascist behaviour."  Khan urged the people to make the shutdown a success. "I urge the people to enforce the hartal entirely (Sorbattokvabe) from dawn to dusk on May 17 (Thursday) demanding unconditional release of the national leaders and withdrawal of the cases over false charges," he said.

The announcement followed a meeting of the central leaders in the BNP office cordoned by police.
Local units of the party that heads the opposition alliance had already called for general strikes in several districts before the announcement from Dhaka was made. A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders after refusing them bail in an arson attack case.

In Thakurgaon, the home district of BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul, the local chapter of BNP called for indefinite general strike. Local BNP leaders called a daylong shutdown for Thursday in Chittagong, Sylhet, Sirajganj, Pabna, Joypurhat, Dinajpur and Bogra.

Police, meanwhile, have cordoned the headquarters of the BNP in Naya Paltan immediately after the court order. Several central leaders were already in the office but police were guarding at the main gate and allowing no supporters in.  Four supporters were detained for trying to get into the office.  Apart from Khan, Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyen Khan, Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman, Advisor to the Chairperson Fazlur Rahman Patal, Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu and Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, among others, were in the office.   

Leaders await Khaleda`s decision

Central leaders on Wednesday said they will decide protest programmes with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia after local leaders called for general strikes in some districts protesting detention of top opposition leaders in jail.  A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other leaders of the 18-Party Alliance after refusing them bail in an arson attack case.

In Thakurgaon, the home district of BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul, the local chapter of BNP has called for indefinite general strike.  Local BNP leaders called a daylong shutdown for Thursday in Chittagong, Sirajganj, Pabna, Joypurhat, Dinajpur and Bogra and more such programmes are incoming.

Police, meanwhile, have cordoned the headquarters of the BNP in Naya Paltan immediately after the court order. Several central leaders were already in the office but police were guarding at the main gate and allowing no supporters in.  Four supporters were detained for trying to get into the office.

"We will set the next course of action after consulting madam (Khaleda)," BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan told bdnews24.com.  Apart from Khan, BNP Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman, Advisor to the Chairperson Fazlur Rahman Patal, Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu and Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, among others, were in the office.

They were assessing the situation in Mirza Fakhrul's office.  Earlier in the day, Metropolitan Speedy Trial Magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah heard the bail petitions of the senior opposition leaders in a case filed over arson attack during a general strike which the party enforced in protest against disappearance of Organising Secretary M Ilias Ali. 

No bail for Fakhrul, others, sent to jail

A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other opposition leaders after refusing them bail in an arson attack case.  The leaders appealed for bail after surrendering at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the morning after failing to get bail in the High Court that had ordered them to surrender at the trial court.

Metropolitan speedy trial magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah heard the petitions at noon and passed the order. The lawyers for the alliance leaders then pleaded with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bikash Kumar Saha to reconsider, but he also turned them down. The alliance leaders surrendered before the court around 11am. The hearing started around 1:15pm with Barrister Moudud Ahmed placing arguments for the alliance leaders' bail. The Public Prosecutor (PP) of Dhaka District Judge's Court Khandaker Abdul Mannan and Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court PP Abdullah Abu opposed the plea.

The judge threw out the bail petition after nearly a hour-long hearing. The alliance leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul, were taken to the prison around 3pm when the 'reconsideration' plea was rejected.   The pro-BNP lawyers erupted in protest at the rejection of the bail pleas. Some of them tried to vandalise the door of the court. Magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah's nameplate was also smashed and thrown outside.

A large number of police were deployed in the court premises ahead of the hearing in anticipation of unpleasant incidents. Traffic on the Johnson Road in front of the CMM court and the Roy Shaheb Bazar area was halted during the hearing.  The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance enforced countrywide general strike on Apr 29 and 30 protesting against the disappearance of M Ilias Ali, one of BNP's organising secretaries.

On Apr 29, a vehicle was torched near the PMO and crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat. Police filed two cases at Shahbagh and Tejgaon accusing the leaders of their alleged involvement in the two incidents.  Fakhrul, Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, M K Anwar, Mirza Abbas, ASM Hannan Shah, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed and other senior leaders of the coalition were charged in the two cases.

A third High Court bench last Sunday ordered them to surrender in the trial court by Wednesday after the bench of justices Mainul Islam Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam Talukder returned a split decision on their petition for anticipatory bail.  The court has already sent the BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi to jail in the case and another joint Secretary General Mahbubuddin Khokon got bail in the same case.  

'Civil uprising if caretakers not agreed'

The BNP again warned on Tuesday of tough demonstrations to push the government if it did not give in to the demand to hold the next national polls under non-partisan caretakers. Party's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir hoped the incumbent Awami League-led government will accept the demand and make announcements accordingly by June 10.

Saying Bangladesh is a country of civil uprising, he said the people knew how to get their demands. From the party's mass rally on Mar 12, BNP chief Khaleda Zia gave the government June 10 deadline to accede to the opposition's demand. Fakhrul was speaking at a discussion organised by '90s student leaders' at the city's National Press Club. The leaders demanded information about the whereabouts of missing leader M Ilias Ali, release of the detained party leaders and withdrawal of 'false cases' against them.

Fakhrul called on the people to stand against the government 'abducting' political leaders. He claimed that 127 persons had gone missing over the past three and a half years which constituted "no less than war crimes and crimes against humanity".

The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance will stage hunger strikes across the country on May 20 against 'forced disappearances' and killings and to demand information on the location of Ilias Ali. It will also hold countrywide agitation rallies on May 27 demanding national polls under a non-party, neutral caretaker government and withdrawal of cases against the central leaders.

Ilias Ali, an Organising Secretary and also the BNP's Sylhet chapter chief, has been missing since Apr 17. The opposition has been blaming the government for the disappearance. The BNP spokesperson also came down hard on the government for its 'repression' of the opposition parties.

He claimed the Awami League was filing false cases against the opposition party leaders while withdrawing cases against their leaders. Fakhrul also accused the government of embezzling millions of taka from the power sector, banks and capital market. He claimed the government's 'corruption in the Padma bridge project' had been proven to the World Bank.

SQ Chy cautioned for last time

Tempers flared across the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh as the case against BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury commenced with the examination of the first prosecution witness. 
The court went into lunch recess after the BNP policymaker indicted for 23 charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War managed to irritate International Crimes Tribunal-1 chairman, Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, with his repetitive interventions during the cross-examination. Justice Huq adjourned the proceedings of the case until Tuesday morning in an order which cautioned Salauddin Quader for the 'last time'.

The 75-year old Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Dr Anisuzzaman had earlier told the court about the description of Nutan Chandra Singha's murder at the hands of Pakistani soldiers and Salauddin Quader himself. According to the description, Pakistani soldiers had come to speak to Nutan Chandra, founder of Kundeshwari Girls School and Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya, and were about to leave when at the signal of Salauddin Quader, they returned and dragged him out and shot him.

Anisuzzaman recounted what others had told him and said that the witnesses had said Salauddin Quader went up to the dying Nutan Chandra and shot him to death. At one point of cross-examination, the defence asked Dr Anisuzzaman, appearing as the first prosecution witness, why he, along with his family, had migrated to what was then East Pakistan from India in 1947.

The tribunal told defence counsel Fakhrul Islam that he could not ask that the question. But the six-time MP from Chittagong stood up to demand why the question could not be asked. Fakhrul Islam then asked whether the professor and his family had come to East Pakistan as refugees. The professor said the people who came to Pakistan could perhaps be commonly termed as refugees. "But we never claimed any benefits or privileges as refugees." The defence counsel then asked when Anisuzzaman had become a citizen of Pakistan to which the tribunal chairman said there are laws that explain the matter and indicated that the question need not be asked.

The BNP leader in the dock was not satisfied with the decision and stood up to make a point. He said, "I have remained quiet until now. But I have a right to cross-examine the witness, and I will"  Justice Huq said, "Not while your counsels are present." The chairman tried to explain that the counsels were conducting the cross-examination and the accused should not interfere. However, Salauddin Quader refused to keep quiet.

As the voices of both the accused and the tribunal chairman rose while words went back and forth, Justice Huq loudly said, "Mr Chowdhury!" "Mr Nizamul Huq!" replied Chowdhury in his booming voice, and continued quickly reverting to a more respectful address, "Sir, please do not show me your red eye. I request you with all respect and humility." Salauddin Quader kept repeating to the tribunal chief suggesting that the judge should not try to intimidate him. Failing to calm down the accused, Justice Huq finally decided to issue an order.

He noted in the order that the court had intervened several times to calm down both the prosecution and the defence during the cross-examination. "But the accused frequently stood up to speak in the tribunal." The order went on to note that the accused, meaning Salauddin Quader, had his own counsel and thus would not be allowed to talk in the court.

Justice Huq also stated in his order that his court had previously cautioned the accused over similar behaviour. "We caution the accused for last time." The war crimes trial against Salauddin Quader will continue in his absence if he, however, did not give up this tendency, the order said. The tribunal recently amended its rules and included a new provision allowing it to conduct a trial in the absence of an accused if that person proved to be uncontrollably unruly.

Salauddin Quader in ICT

The prosecution submitted formal charges against Salauddin Quader on Nov 14, 2011 and the tribunal took them into cognisance three days later. A former prime ministerial adviser on parliamentary affairs when BNP chief Khaleda Zia was in office, the Chittagong MP was shown arrested for war crimes charges on Dec 20, 2010, five days after his arrest.

The investigating agency submitted a 119-page report with around 8,000-page data to the chief prosecutor on Oct 3 in a bid to prove allegations of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War. The BNP leader was indicted on Apr 4 on 23 charges of war crimes. Besides Jamaat-e-Islami executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee whose case is the most advanced and Salauddin Quader, Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have been detained on war crimes charges.

The tribunal also sent Jamaat-e-Islami's former chief Ghulam Azam to jail on Jan 11 and indicted him on five different charges on May 13. The second tribunal, set up on Mar 22, 2012, has given Abdul Alim, former BNP MP Abdul Alim and member of Ziaur Rahman's cabinet, an indefinite while his trial proceeds.

Opposition rally kicks off

The rally of the 18-party opposition alliance led by the BNP has begun in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters. The rally, being held instead of a procession as police did not allow it, started around 4:15pm on Monday, chaired by city BNP convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka. The programme was declared on May 9 to demand details of the whereabouts of missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali, withdrawal of 'false cases' against party leaders and release of the detained activists. The procession was scheduled to start at 4pm from Naya Paltan.

However, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police refused the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance permission to take it out. Masudur Rahman, Additional Deputy Commissioner who heads the Media and Community Service wing of the DMP, said the opposition will only be able to hold a rally in front of the BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters. He added that the decision was taken considering safety and security of the public and their property.

A large number of law enforcers have been deployed in front of the BNP office. Opposition activists started crowding the venue from noon. BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told bdnews24.com before the rally, "We are not holding the mass procession as police did not permit. Instead, we will stage a peaceful rally." Speakers at the rally are addressing the crowd from a makeshift stage built on top of a truck. Police have barred traffic on both sides of the stretch of the street between Fakirapool to Kakrail intersection

Ghulam Azam indicted for war crimes

 In a landmark decision, the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh indicted Jamaat-e-Islami guru Ghulam Azam for incitement, conspiracy, planning, abetment and failure to prevent crimes against humanity during the nation's War of Independence in 1971. When asked to plead, the former Jamaat chief said there were numerous charges mentioned. "It is not possible to respond to all of them in a short time. But I do not consider myself guilty of the charges."

A political science graduate of Dhaka University and also a former leader of the university's central students union, Azam pointed out to the tribunal that the list of war criminals of 1973 did not have his name on it. "I was, however, on the list of collaborators. But after pardoning principal war criminals, the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared a general amnesty. Hence I have been already forgiven."

The former teacher of Rangpur's Carmicheal College was not allowed to continue further when his remarks took a political turn and the tribunal advised him that he would get the opportunity to make these remarks once his defence called him to the stand presumably during the witness examinations.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up on Mar 25, 2010, on the 39th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence to try crimes against humanity during the bloody war, read out five kinds of charges against the former chief of Jamaat, arguably the largest Islamist organisation of the region, having deferred the indictment order twice since Apr 17. The three-judge tribunal, headed by chairman Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, read out charges for almost two hours dwelling upon the historical context, Ghulam Azam's history and procedural history of the case before beginning with the charges.

Justice Huq, reading out the charges, also noted the arguments of both the prosecution and Azam's defence along with the court's observations, as his court gave its third indictment order — the first being another Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee on 20 counts and BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury on 23 counts. Before beginning with the historical context, Justice Huq said the order was of 'considerable significance for the people of Bangladesh'. "It is a significant moment in the history of Bangladesh," he said before commencing on the historical development leading up to the Liberation War.

The order stated that the tribunal had prima facie case against Azam on the basis of formal charges, witness statements and other documents.  The thrust of the charges was based on Ghulam Azam's superior status, as the chief of Jamaat during 1971, and his influence over his party men.

The indictment order noted that Azam had been part of the 12-member delegation that met with Lt Gen Tikka Khan, the martial law administrator of East Pakistan, on Apr 4 of 1971 and suggested that he had thereby endorsed the heinous atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army from the very outset, since it was after the night of Mar 26 when Pakistani occupation forces had descended upon the Bangladeshi civilians across the country.

The order went on to note the numerous meetings between Ghulam Azam and central figures of the Pakistani junta of 1971 like Tikka Khan and Yahiya Khan, the then president, along with Azam's inciting speeches at meetings and rallies. The charges linked Azam with the Razakars, through his position in the central Peace Committee and Jamaat-e-Islami, something that is denied by the 89-year old man's defence.

Upon noting that Azam had pleaded 'not guilty', the tribunal directed that the trial proceed against him commencing with the opening statement and witness examination on June 5 when the defence will also have to submit its list of witnesses and other documents that it intends to rely upon.

Jamaat Guru in ICT-1

On Dec 12, 2011, the prosecution brought a 52-point charter of charges against Azam and appealed for his arrest. Later, following the tribunal order, charges were re-arranged and presented to the tribunal on Jan 5.   He was produced before the tribunal on Jan 11 and sent to jail the same day. Since that evening, Ghulam Azam has been kept at the prison cell of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University for better treatment considering his delicate health.

The prosecution's numerous charges against him mainly consist of incitement, conspiracy, complicity and command responsibility for crimes against humanity.  A former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Azam is allegedly among the key people who pioneered anti-liberation efforts in 1971 colluding with the Pakistani military junta of that time.

He is widely perceived to have been among core group of right-wing supporters of the Pakistani Army, who came out strongly in support of a united Pakistan. Ghulam Azam, then chief of Jamaat, was instrumental in setting up the infamous Peace Committee at the national level. The Razakars, an auxiliary force set up mainly to actively thwart the liberation forces, are said to have been mobilised through the Peace Committees across Bangladesh.

Among the most notorious vigilante militia are the Al Badr, whose membership is said to have been mainly dominated by the Jamaat's student wing called the Islami Chhatra Sangha at that time.  The Al Badr is alleged to have spearheaded execution of the intellectual elites of Bangladesh just days before the victory on Dec 16, 1971. Azam also spoke in favour of Pakistan to the Middle Eastern countries during the war, according to the prosecution.

He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's rule. Having led Jamaat for long, Azam retired from active politics in 1999.  His party remains a key ally of the main opposition BNP. Two Jamaat leaders, also behind bars for war crimes charges, have even served as ministers during the BNP's last tenure in government between 2001 and 2006, when Azam's party was part of the ruling coalition.    

Fakhrul, others ordered to surrender

A third High Court bench that the opposition leaders had approached for anticipatory bail on Sunday ordered them to surrender in the trial court by May 16.  BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other leaders of the opposition alliance are facing charges of involvement in the torching of a bus and explosion of bombs in front of the Prime Minister's Office during the Apr 29 shutdown.

Besides the one filed over arson at Tejgaon Police Station, BNP-led 18-Party Alliance leaders were also accused in a case filed with Shahbagh Police Station for hurling crude bombs at the Secretariat. The Chief Justice constituted the third single-judge bench to settle the issue after another bench had returned a split verdict on the petitions but asked police not to 'harass' the opposition leaders for seven days.

The bench of Justice Mohammad Anwar-Ul Haque heard the petitions on Sunday afternoon. Earlier, the High Court bench of justices Mainul Islam Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam Talukder gave a split decision on the petition and the matter went to the Chief Justice's office.

Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain on May 10 formed the third bench to hear the bail petitions of the leaders.  Police last Thursday pressed charges against the accused leaders in two cases filed for violence during the countrywide general strike on Apr 29 demanding 'release' of missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali.

The Dhaka metropolitan speedy trial tribunal judge Erfan Ullah has fixed May 21 for hearing the counsels as a Detective Branch investigator had sought arrest warrants for the opposition leaders in connection with the cases. The third High Court bench will hear on Monday the petition for anticipatory bail in the Secretariat bomb blast case.  

Rafiqul slates Ashraf, Dilip for Yunus snipe

Eminent jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huque has strongly criticised LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam for his remarks ridiculing Nobel laureate Prof Mohammad Yunus.  "What a stupid country we live in! Holding such a significant position of a major political party, he (Ashraf) has said that one has to pacify a region to get a Nobel Peace Prize," the former attorney general said at a function in the city on Saturday.

"There's no work more heinous than to dishonour a respected person," said the senior lawyer.   He was addressing a discussion organised by Muktochinta Forum, a human rights organisation, at Bangladesh Photojournalists Association auditorium on the country's recent political scenario, forced disappearances and abductions.  

Ashraf, also the general secretary of the Awami League, at a function at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Thursday raised questions about the justification of awarding Grameen Bank founder Prof Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize.   "His [Prof Yunus] basic subject was economics. But he didn't get Nobel Prize in Economics. He got Nobel Prize in Peace without pacifying any region."

He went on to say: "Many of the people present here better know how Nobel Prize is given."  Rafiqul on Saturday also came down hard on Industries Minister Dilip Barua for sniping at Dr Yunus and BRAC Chairman Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. "I say, with due respect to him, he is worth nothing compared to Yunus."

Barua addressing a discussion organised by Bangabandhu Academy at the National Press Club on Friday came down heavily on them for their suggestion for holding the next general election under a caretaker administration.  "Come, get involved in politics if you (Yunus) want to talk on the caretaker issue," the minister had said.