Wed 29 Nov 2006
Some of you are anxiously awaiting to find out what happened today at the court at the hearing for the petition against Iajuddin. One of the lawyers from the court Moin Ghani contributes with his observation on the proceedings. Thank you, Moin.
We had a full day’s hearing on the writ petition challenging the President’s assumption of office of the Chief Advisor and his subsequent unilateral actions keeping the Advisers in the dark, in contrast to the principle of collective responsibility of the Advisers.
The Attorney General of Bangladesh spoke for almost more than half the day.
The crux of the Attorney General’s argument was that 30 days have already elapsed since the President assumed the office of the Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government, which is to be in place for an interim period of 90 days only. Since the political parties had acquiesced to the assumption of power by the President they had therefore forfeited their right to challenge this holding of office.
The second argument of the Attorney General was that according to Article 51 of the Constitution the acts of the President are immune from any judicial review. Everything that was done by the President leading up to his assumption of office as Chief Advisor was done according to his discretion and thus could not be questioned in court.Dr. Hossain had about five minutes at the end of the day and seemed to have made some huge dents into the arguments of the Attorney General. He quoted a couple of paragraphs from two previous Judgments of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. The first judgment in essence stated that the passage of time does not make and unconstitutional act constitutional. The second judgment stated that if the Attorney General’s argument is correct and the President’s actions cannot be reviewed then in effect we will have no rule of law and no Constitution. Instead we will have the rule of the Attorney General and the President. This could never have been what the Constitution envisaged.
Hearing is scheduled to conclude tomorrow.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:57 am
If a parallel with the U.S. constitution is drawn, can we fairly say Iajuddin has been impeached? Or is it totally different than an impeachment (as Clinton was as a sitting prez).
November 29th, 2006 at 10:15 am
Drishtipat is a non-profit, non-political expatriate Bangladeshi organization……It seems like only thing you guys talk about is politics, supporting one party agenda. If you are going to talk about politics then balance it out. Talk about both; infect all the parties and their agendas.
November 29th, 2006 at 10:46 am
S,
it will seem that way if you are either new to DP blog or are biased towards a certain party alliance that is clearly against the mass population and their demands.
Upholding human rights in BD is extremely difficult in Bangladesh because of the faulty administration (crippled by staggering amount of corruptions), lack of implementations of the laws, other social and economical issues like constricted religious views, extreme poverty …etc
That’s why it is crucial that a good governance exist in BD. And that’s why it is very very important to elect the right candidates in this parliamentary election – so that human rights can be guaranteed. Unfortunately the CG and the EC are not acting the way they should, and causing us to speak up against it.
DP does not have any other agenda, and not biased towards any party.
The views in the blog, are the views of its contributors – not DP’s as an organizations.
To learn more about the initiatives DP had taken so far, please go to the main web page.
http://www.drishtipat.org/
Oh btw, don’t assume that posting the same note for ten or twenty times will give you additional leverage in getting your post moderated. Every comment is posted unless it is in total violation of comment posting protocol.
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/dp-comment-posting-rules/
November 29th, 2006 at 10:56 am
If the politics of the day are the most important elements in what’s happening in the country and affecting the lives of the people, then surely it’s right to talk about it.
As an expat in Dhaka this seems even more important to me when we consider how blatantly attempts are being made to steal the next election from the people through actions that would be considered mind-boggling in any other democratic country.
How can you ask people to give “balanced” approach when one party is currently responsible for manipulation of such an evil agenda? The situation is so unbalanced that so, inevitably will be the commentary.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Having a free and a fair election is a precondition for democracy. It is not a particular party agenda, but a right of the citizens. Drishtipat should fight for the rights of common people. Let’s make it straight once and for all so that no other governments dare to take up such evil agenda of engineering an election.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
S(2): If you are going to talk about politics then balance it out.
Fine. Let’s balance it out. From what I can gather, it seems that BNP-JI is intent on manipulating the election. But I am not in Dhaka, and I don’t have any first hand information. Balance out for me whether my impression is wrong. Balance out for me why I shouldn’t think BNP-JI is responsible for the current mess? Balance out for me why you think a BNP-JI return to power will improve human rights in Bangladesh?
November 30th, 2006 at 4:02 am
Anthony,
Reference yr statement for balanced outlook on the present political crisis:
1.Political is a dirty game mainly because its a game of domination and the Politicians of ouir Country and infact throughout the world –this concept is known and accepted.
2.In answer to yr specific question:”Why I shouldnt think BNP-JI is responsible for the curent mess?”- because when you clap or applause –you use yr two hands(palms to be exact or if you r one handed you need to strike yr palm against other object to make the sound.
To ask only about this party only is showing you have feelings for party AL n 14 party- No problem on that;as Citizen or US citizen but of Bangladeshi origin you have right to feel –but when it comes to judgement, as Citizen the INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY comes first and so judgement should be impartial.
Now as a free Citizen,NOT belonging to any party but having full respect for Party/ies and system of DEMOCRACY my answer is that BOTH parties are equally responsible and today they are facing the relality that:”AS YOU SOW SO SHALL YOU REAP” Both have made tremedous mistakes and injustices(the list would be too long)
3.In this game of domination for power only the skillful player together with insight to predict danger signals WINS– thats what has been happening here. AL plus 14 alliances are being defeated by their own rigid stance and unable to read the impacts of each move they make or to understand their rival party’s moves.
4.In the fight three grave mistakes,and I speak again as Citizen only,are being made by AL-14 party:(a) Blockade and street fights thats is destroying public and private properties —they shouldnt have decided this–they should have taken the opinion of the Citizen,through a simple YES n NO polls.(b)They are supporting the Mayor of CTG who has the operation of the port at a stand-still or now half operational–he is acting as a great Derterent to winnning the public support.(c)They are over looking the fact the PRICES are spiralling in the market and they think this that only BNP-JI will be held responsible–the PUBLIC arent FOOLs–they are facing tremendous hardship and when I go to martket and see that most cannot buy I feel very sorry and often return back without purchasing any items or go to another place to buy–thats the horrid picture the Blockade has brought.
NOw for BNP-JI:They also have their share in continuous manipulations but most crucial disadvantage is the Voters LIST– they r not understanding that it could back-fire on them.
TO B FAIR: Both r responsible for the present crisis as both during their tenure have not intiated the development of institutions,paractised democratic procedure to form their own organization and nominate candidates and both have rendered parliament a safe heaven for pass laws to continue corruption– the 0pposition doesnt play their correct role as a check and Balance Party and goes for street action giving the Party in Power a free hand in passing whatever lawas they think is good.
NOW THE SOLUITION: Discussions specially to trace or show the Citizens who is a hero and who is a zero will not help–as Preof.YUNUs said and I have been saying in this forum for long, as ASIF, also knows –both NETRIS must be made to sit and solve the problems for holding Elections and next time in Parliament they should take the steps to develop institutions like EC ACC Parliament etc.
So please have an open mind whether you like n support A or B party the fact now is we CITIZENS want RELIEF from this impasse.Lets hear what you,ANTONY has to say.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:45 am
I’ve just seen the latest news that the Chief Justice stayed the proceedings just before the court was about to pronounce judgement this afternoon.
Do these people think that, especially with a senior representative of UN here in the country right now, anyone in the world will believe for a minute that these are the acts of people who care anything for democracy. The craziness has to stop - and soon. This smacks of yet another “put up job.”