Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer and Rangpur-2 lawmaker ATM Azharul Islam has accused the government of forcing people onto the streets within two months, warning it not to disregard the call for a referendum.
“Do not disregard the verdict of a referendum,” Azhar said on Tuesday at an event introducing the green panel of the Lawyers’ Unity Council for the Dhaka Bar Association election.
“An issue that should be resolved in parliament should not be taken to the streets. You have come to power by rigging the results. You know this, and the people also know it,” he added.
Shafiqul Islam Masud, Jamaat lawmaker for Patuakhali-2, alleged that the government is “party-fying” professional organisations and transferring neo-fascism.
Regarding the referendum issue, he said, “They (BNP) are rejecting the verdict of the 70% people’s referendum and building tunnels and bunkers, proving that they cannot go to the place of public trust.”
Tajul Islam, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, said the July uprising was not merely for a change of power but to radically transform Bangladesh.
“We want a judicial system where judges do not bow their heads to the executive,” he said. “We want to see a transformed judiciary where a magistrate does not hesitate to issue an order even against the prime minister himself.”
He warned that if such a court does not materialise, “our dream of an independent judiciary will fail.”
Supreme Court senior lawyer Shishir Monir said the government has abolished the Judicial Secretariat despite no “note of dissent” regarding it in their July charter.
“If people from the executive come and alter justice, if the judiciary cannot be freed from the control of the Law Ministry, then the judiciary cannot be made independent,” he said.
“If we cannot protect the judiciary, attempts are being made to dismantle the constitution by force of a two-thirds majority,” Monir warned.
Sarjis Alam, chief organiser for the northern region of the National Citizen Party, alleged that rigging has taken place in the by-election.
“If there is rigging, we will not vote, but we will not leave the polling centres,” he said. “We will stand by you if needed, we will give you courage, but we cannot boycott the vote.”
The Dhaka Bar Association election will be held on 29 and 30 April. BNP and like-minded parties are participating under the banner of the Nationalist Lawyers’ Unity Panel (Blue Panel), while Jamaat and NCP-supported candidates are running under the banner of the Lawyers’ Unity Council (Green Panel).
The event was also addressed by Motiur Rahman Akand, Nazrul Islam, and Abdur Razzaq, among others.
