There is no need to appoint a retired Chief Justice as the head of an election-time caretaker government, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Sunday, adding that the country must move beyond past practices.
“After a Chief Justice retires, they count the days until they get that position. In the past, we have seen attempts to place former Chief Justices in various positions of the state. We want to move beyond this practice,” he said.
The law minister made the remarks at a stakeholder meeting at the SIRDAP auditorium in the capital, organised by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division to formulate laws on the National Human Rights Commission and enforced disappearance.
The minister said political workers have been the worst victims of human rights violations in the country.
“During the previous government’s time, they held court by candlelight at night and handed down sentences in the name of justice, yet they remain outside accountability. We see them like angels. They are still beyond reach,” he said.
Asaduzzaman said the government is scrutinising the proposed law on enforced disappearance to ensure it does not conflict with the International Crimes Tribunal Act and the Human Rights Commission Act.
He noted that the Enforced Disappearance Commission Ordinance drafted during the interim government’s time would have benefited criminals more. “We are trying to make it more timely,” he said.
“We want to make an effective law on the National Human Rights Commission and enforced disappearance. We want to make a timely and welfare-oriented law, being careful that the National Human Rights Commission does not become a toothless institution.”
The minister said the government has simultaneously included the definition of enforced disappearance within the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973. “There will be trial, there will be investigation,” he said.
MP Tahsina Rushdir Luna, whose husband and former MP Elias Ali was disappeared in 2012 with direct state backing, said many others were disappeared after that.
“After the political change on August 5, 2024, I have not received any new information regarding enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance must be permanently banned from the country,” she said.
“Enforced disappearance destroys a family. I want the government to provide information about those who have been disappeared in the past.”
The meeting was attended by Attorney General Ruhul Kuddus Kajol, MPs Sanjida Islam Tuli, UNDP Country Director, human rights activist Noor Khan Liton, Executive Director of Manush Jonno Foundation Shaheen Anam, District and Sessions Judge Shamsuddin Masum, and Supreme Court lawyers Mohammad Shishir Monir and Khaled Hamid Chowdhury, among others.
