Govt applying ‘terrible tricks’ to prolong Khaleda’s imprisonment

Senior Correspondent: BNP senior leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the government is applying ‘terrible tricks’ to prolong the party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s stay in jail.

And that’s why, they (government) are putting obstacle to receiving Khaleda’s signed power of attorney authorising lawyers to move the cases in favour of her.

BNP senior joint secretary general Rizvi came up with the allgegation while speaking at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office on Friday.

He said the jail authorities not cooperating with their chairperson Khaleda Zia’s lawyers to receive her signed Vakalatnama (power of attorney) to move the cases in favour of her, hampering the legal steps.

Rizvi said the government is playing a foul game by repeatedly interfering in Khaleda Zia’s case, stunning and disheartening people.

He alleged that the judiciary is now working as a weapon to fulfill the government’s desire. “Our judiciary is not free from the government’s influence. The number of farcical trial is gradually increasing.” 

Mentioning that the BNP chairperson was shown arrested in four other cases after she was put in jail in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, he said her lawyers failed to take her signature in the Vakalatnama despite their repeated attempts. “Now they can’t take legal steps to defend her in the cases.”

He said the government has been trying to keep Khaleda in jail to establish its one-party monarchy deceiving voters in the next general election.

The BNP stalwart warned that they will free their chairperson from jail and install a democratic government in the country through intensifying their movement.

Rizvi said the victory of pro-BNP panel in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) election has demonstrated the lawyers’ annoyance against the government’s ‘naked interference’ in the judiciary.

“The BNP-backed panel won with huge votes bagging 10 posts, including that of president and secretary, in the Supreme Court Bar Association elections. I, on behalf of BNP, congratulate them. This victory is a protest against the government’s nude interference in the judiciary,” the BNP leader said.

Rizvi also said the Supreme Court lawyers have given the right verdict and registered their protest against the government’s ‘foul play’ with the judiciary.

Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel backed by the BNP-Jamaat alliance has won the SCBA polls defeating the Awami League-led alliance Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parishad.

According to the results, BNP Vice-chairman Advocate Joynul Abedin from Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel was elected SCBA president while Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon general secretary of the bar association respectively outplaying their respective rivals. Awami League-supported Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parisad got four posts out of 14.

risingbd/Dhaka/March 23, 2018/Reza/A K Azad