Full verdict of 16th amendment case
Ex-CJ Khairuls remarks over SC verdict derogatory: Moudud
The full verdict of the 16th amendment case, has become the talk of the town since its release on August 01, by the Supreme Court. Yesterday, another dimension was added to the issue
with government, finally, breaking its silence over the verdict and observations.
STAFF REPORTER
BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed has termed the statement of Law Commission chairman and former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque about the Appellate Divisions judgment scrapping the 16th amendment as derogatory and tantamount to contempt of court.
He made the observation at a press conference held yesterday to issue the partys formal reaction to the release of the full context of the Appellate Divisions judgment scrapping the 16th amendment to the Constitution.
Moudud Ahmed questioned the authority of Khairul Haque to hold the press conference as chairman of the Law Commission. As the chairman of the Law Commission, he cannot hold a press conference on this topic. He has violated the service rules as a government official, he said.
The former law minister termed Haques previous verdict scrapping the fifth and 13th amendments to the Constitution as a political move, adding that he had given the two verdicts from his partisan and political loyalty, not for the welfare of the people.
He accused the former CJ of conducting immoral acts, and said that as the chief justice of Bangladesh, if he had committed such immoral deeds, it was a major crime. He has committed a judicial crime, he observed.
Moudud also criticised the law ministers statement about the logic of the verdict, and questioned his authority to raise questions about it. As the law minister, he should implement the verdict of the court, he added.
He (Haque) has to stand in the dock of the people for the offence he made by scrapping the fifth and 13th amendments to the Constitution, he said.
Moudud said there were no irrelevant words in the judgment scrapping the 16th amendment. It has protected the freedom of the judiciary.
He suggested that the leaders of the ruling party should file a review petition instead of making controversial comments about the court judgment and tarnishing its image.
In his statement, Khairul Haque had on Tuesday criticised the verdict. We are no longer in the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. We are in the Judges Republic of Bangladesh, he had said.
Former Chief Justice Khairul Haques statement, which he gave before the reaction of the government and the ruling Awami League, was not only indecent, but also tantamount to contempt of court, BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
The BNP secretary-general said the Supreme Courts verdict had historical and philosophical import against the backdrop of the prevailing political situation, even terming it a magna carta.
There is a ray of hope in the verdict for the countrys democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, he observed.
He said the statements issued by Haque and the ruling party leaders have the same tone. Replying to a question, Mirza Alamgir said the government has been consciously destroying the organs of the state.
They (the government) want to bring the judiciary under their control, as they did with the mass media and law enforcement agencies. The verdict has unveiled the misdeeds of the government, he added.
Standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Jamir Uddin Sircar, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, SCBA president Joynul Abedin, and Sanaullah Miah, among others, were present at the BNP press conference.
