BNP doing 'excesses' over verdict

Ruling Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday alleged that a vested quarter was drawing up a plan abroad to put the country in a severe political turmoil and grab state power.

“Who is going where from London and Bangkok and what they are talking about … I know everything about those maintaining key mediating role for this purpose. Just be careful,” Quader said apparently hinting at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia now in London.

Addressing a discussion organised by Juba League, the youth front of the AL, at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, to mark the National Mourning Day, he said the BNP, coming out of a hole, has started making a fuss over the Supreme Court verdict that declared the 16th amendment illegal.

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said the AL's government too would be illegal if Ziaur Rahman's rule was considered illegitimate, reports UNB.

"There's no question about the legitimacy of Ziaur Rahman's rule. Introducing multiparty democracy and restoring people's right to expression and press freedom can't be illegal. Not only that, the Awami League registered as a political party following due procedures during his rule," he said.

Fakhrul made the remarks apparently in reaction to the AL general secretary's comment on BNP's silence over Supreme Court's observation about its founder's rule.

Passed in 2014, the 16th amendment to the constitution had restored parliament's powers to remove SC judges for misconduct or incapacity. Last year, the High Court declared the amendment illegal and the decision was upheld by the SC on July 3 this year. The apex court released the full verdict on Aug 1.

Since then, the ruling AL has been criticising and the BNP has been praising the verdict.

Addressing the discussion, Quader, also minister for roads, transport and bridges, said the BNP would not win in a participatory, credible, free and fair polls and that was why it has chosen the path of conspiracy.

He called upon the party's youth front leaders and activists to be united in preventing the evil forces.

About political dialogue between the AL and the BNP, Quader said, “Khaleda Zia has hurt us by cutting a cake to mark her fake birthday on August 15. On which ground, will we sit across the table to them?”     

He criticised the BNP men for “not standing beside the flood victims” and “staging photo sessions without distributing relief materials”.

Fakhrul said the AL contested parliamentary polls and it was still carrying out its political activities with the registration it got during BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's rule. "So, AL stands illegal if his [Zia] rule is illegal."

Fakhrul came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after placing wreaths at Ziaur Rahman's grave along with leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal, marking its 37th founding anniversary.

Referring to the observation made in the 16th amendment verdict that dubbed Ziaur Rahman's power grabbing illegal, Quader on Friday “thanked” Fakhrul for being silent on the matter.

Fakhrul said it was the AL leaders' old habit of misleading people. He said it was the Awami League's strategy to divert people's attention from the virdict's observations by talking about Ziaur Rahman's rule.

Fakhrul said people were worried as the government was putting pressure on the chief justice to change the verdict.

"They want to obliterate the independence of the judiciary and destroy the basic structures of the state. In fact, their main target is to cement their one-party rule by destroying democracy," he said.