Senior advocate of the Supreme Court Barrister Rafiqul Haque has called for restricting the tenure of Prime Minister so that nobody can seek elevation to the position for more than two terms.
He said that the practices of the last two decades proved this was needed to guard against the abuse of power which in his opinion was done by the parties whenever they went to power.
Barrister Rafiqul Haque was speaking as the chief guest at the launch of a Committee for the protection of human rights at Hotel Purbani International on Friday. A committee to protect fundamental rights was launched at the meeting of eminent members of the intelligentsia with a call for united efforts of democracy-loving people to raise voice against the infringement of human rights under different pleas.They opined that democracy was turning into a sham due to violation of human rights and said it was urgent to speak unitedly against such violations in order to safeguard the same.
The seminar was addressed by Prof. Pyash Karim as the keynote speaker; Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury, Prof. Asif Nazrul, Dr. Tuhin Malik as discussants.
Prof. Emajuddin Ahmed, Dr. Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi, Prof. Mahbubulah and Shamsher Mubin Chowdhury made brief comments at the function moderated by Mahfizullah. Barrister Rumin introduced the topic of the seminar and read out its declaration which was as follows:
“The political atmosphere of Bangladesh is passing through a critical juncture. The violence perpetrated by members of different law enforcing agencies against citizens of different shades of opinion has reached an alarming state. Despicable attacks and firing on houses, temples, monasteries of the members of the minority communities have reached an alarming number. Moreover, indiscriminate attacks on different activities of opposition political parties, intolerance in political arena, stubborn and arrogant role of the law enforcing agencies have become matter of citizen concern.
“Human rights are the basic elements of human development as well as social and economic development of a country. In Bangladesh these rights have been incorporated in the Constitution as fundamental rights of all citizens. In part III of the Constitution the fundamental rights of the citizens have been guaranteed under Articles 27 to 43.
“The main rights that the Constitution guarantees are equality before law, protection from discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste, sex or place of birth, equality of opportunity in public employment, right to protection of law, protection of right to life and personal liberty, safeguards as to arrest and detention, prohibition of forced labour, protection in respect of trial and punishment, freedom of movement, freedom of assembiy, freedom of association, freedom of thought, conscience and speech, freedom of profession or occupation, freedom of religion, rights to property, protection of home and correspondence. Article 26 of the Constitution makes it clear that any law inconsistent with the provisions of part III of the Constitution – the part in which these fundamental rights are guaranteed – will be void to the extent of such inconsistency. Incidentally, due to lack of proper enforcement, these laws have been rendered ineffectual. The root causes of the violation of fundamental rights are the lack of knowledge, consciousness and good governance.
“Overall fundamental rights situation in Bangladesh worsened over the last few years as the Government narrowed space for political activities and civil society, continued to shield abuses by security forces from accountability and flatly ignored calls by different human rights organisations at home and abroad.
“One of the most important fundamental rights – freedom of speech – as guaranteed in part III of the Constitution, is being violated at its highest level in recent years. The Government has gone to the extent of responding in a way that critics consider as conspiring … Against this backdrop, this organisation, entitled Committee to Protect Fundamental Rights, Bangladesh (CPFR, B) is launched to raise voice against the cases of violation of fundamental rights, to press home growing public demand to stop such violations and to work in close cooperation with the citizenry to ensure a peaceful abode for the citizens of Bangladesh.”
The meeting was attended by teachers of universities, retired senior government officials, senior lawyers, leaders of civil society organizations, and senior journalists.
