Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, member secretary of Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad, threatened to launch a movement otherwise.
“The chief justice (CJ) threatened Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by citing reference to a Pakistan court order that disqualified their Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” Taposh said.
“By doing this, the CJ has violated his oath. Therefore the CJ has to resign from the office,” he said, threatening a movement otherwise from October.
He was addressing a meeting organised by Awami Ainjibi Parishad at the Supreme Court Bar Association premises against the 16th amendment verdict of the apex court.
Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad Convener Yusuf Hossain Humayun, SM Rezaul Karim, Nurul Islam Sujon MP and Advocate Rabiul Alam Budu also spoke at the programme.
At a counter-programme arranged nearby, pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawyers under Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum banner demanded resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Supreme Court Bar Association chief and the forum’s President Zainul Abedin said: “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a stand against the judiciary by talking about resignation of the chief justice.”
Apart from demanding resignation of the premier, he also called for the arrest of Law Commission Chairman Khairul Haque for his comment about the Supreme Court verdict.
The programme was organised at the North Hall of Supreme Court Bar Association.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s statement about Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, arguing it has pushed the judiciary and the executive, the two main organs of the state, into confrontation.
The party termed the premier’s statement that the CJ wants to snatch state power as “unwarranted” and an instance of ‘direct interference’ in the affairs of the judiciary.
The BNP leaders advised the ruling Awami League (AL) to take the opportunity to file a review petition if it feels aggrieved with the judgment of the Supreme Court that scrapped the 16th amendment to the Constitution.
BNP standing committee member, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, said the PM, through her statement, has directly brought the judiciary and the executive face-to-face.
“We are really concerned over the ruling party’s move and the statements of its leaders. We don’t know why the Awami League leaders and government are making such statements,” he said.
The former minister said, in actual sense, the present parliament has no legitimacy, since it is not an elected one. The premier’s statement about the CJ is regrettable, he added. It would not do any good to the country, he said.
BNP vice-chairman advocate Zainul Abedin said the PM’s statement about the CJ is a direct interference with the judiciary.
“Indeed, the government wants to keep the higher judiciary under pressure by bringing the lower courts under its control,” he said.
Abedin, who is also the president of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association, termed the Prime Minister’s statement unwarranted.
He said, if the ruling Awami League is aggrieved, it can file a review petition in line with Article 103 of the Constitution.
While speaking at a rally after placing wreaths at a makeshift memorial to the martyrs of the gruesome grenade attack on August 21, 2004 on Bangabandhu Avenue at Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh (KIB), the Prime Minister came down heavily on the CJ for comparing Bangladesh with Pakistan.
The PM said she was not at all scared by such a threat.
