Dhaka, March 14 – Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday Wednesday accused the authorities of delaying the legal process intentionally to interrupt the release of their Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.“She [Khaleda Zia] has been kept behind bar through a blueprint in a bid to keep her away from politics as well as from the elections,” BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told while briefing media at the party’s Naya Paltan office.
The party organised the briefing hours after the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court stayed until Sunday a High Court order granting a four-month interim bail to BNP Chief and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
The BNP secretary general said the “illegal and unethical” Awami League government has resorted to the path of “brutal repression” to cling onto the state power. “All the institutions of rule and law and democracy have been destroyed one after another,” he added.
“The government is delaying the release of Khaleda Zia through different dirty tactics, apart from delaying the legal process. Shortly after the High Court granted her bail, the authorities have started procrastinating the process. All the arrangements were made through various ill tactics so that she can’t walk out of jail.”
Alleging that the biggest damage the Awami League government has caused to Bangladesh is that it has politicised the country’s judiciary, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We’ve got proof of that. The Chief Justice was forced to resign and go into exile.”
“They have grabbed the judiciary. It is the last resort of the people. Government’s desire is being reflected in the judiciary’s decision which is unfortunately evident in various recent decisions.”
BNP standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, said the Supreme Court has called illegal showing an accused arrested in another case, if he or she gets bail. “Even though, they did that.”
The senior lawyer said the people of the country have never expected what is happening in the higher court now-a- days.
“The Appellate Division stayed High Court order for Khaleda Zia’s bail even without hearing the argument of her lawyers. We didn’t expect such decision,” he added.
A special judge court of Dhaka on February 8, sent BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to the prison sentencing her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. – Special Correspondent
