Dhaka, Sept 11 – Pro-BNP lawyers and pro-AL lawyers Monday held briefing and counter-briefing over the law minister Anisul Huq comments that ‘BNP lawyers do not understand laws’.Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Advocate Joynul Abedin at a press briefing yesterday requested Law Minister Anisul Huq to withdraw his comment on the lawyers of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia over her jail trial.
The pro-BNP lawyers dominated SCBA. Its President said the comment of the law minister, where he said that Khaleda’s lawyers do not understand the law, is “insulting for the lawyers of the country”.
On the other hand, pro-AL lawyer dominated Bar Council Vice-Chairman Yusuf Hossain Humayun in another press briefing alleged that the pro-BNP lawyers are trying to create an issue over the law minister comments.
He said that the law minister made the comments after the BNP lawyers gave a wrong explanation over the makeshift court into the jail for conducting trial proceedings against Khaleda Zia in the Zia Charitable corruption case. But, the law minister did not want to say anything about the knowledge of BNP lawyers, he said adding the law minister made the comments by the way.
Now, the pro-BNP lawyers are trying to create an issue for movement, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, who is also a presidium member of Awami League, said.
The law minister made the comments last week when Khaleda’s lawyers complained to the chief justice saying that the law ministry has issued a gazette notification illegally for shifting the court to Dhaka old central jail for holding the trial of Zia Charitable Trust graft case.
At the SCBA briefing, Advocate Joynul Abedin, who is also vice-chairman of BNP, said that the law minster’s comment is “regrettable and unfortunate”. “He (Anisul Huq) is a lawyer, the law
minister and a responsible person. The people, including the lawyers, do not expect such a comment from him.”
He said many lawyers lost memberships of the SCBA by making such derogatory comment. SCBA secretary Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon also spoke at the press conference.
Khaleda’s lawyers on Sunday applied to the office of Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, requesting him to launch “enquiries” and take appropriate actions against the judicial officers “encroaching their legal boundaries at the instruction of the government.”
At the pro-AL lawyers briefing, AL legal affairs secretary Advocate SM Rezaul Karim said that the government shifted the court into the jail considering the security BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. She was a former prime minister. The government is considering her security seriously.
Hence, the court has been shifted in that place. But, pro-BNP lawyers are intentionally trying to volatile the legal arena by creating an issue over law minister comments, Karim alleged. – Staff Reporter
