Dhaka: Awami League leaders, yesterday, demanded the resignation of Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha for making what they said were “irrelevant and objectionable observations” in the judgement of 16th Amendment case. They said the Chief Justice should resign from the constitutional post as he had already lost his moral right to remain in the position by making such derogatory and objectionable observations against Bangabandhu and the parliament. The AL leaders came up with their demand in separate programmes in the capital.
Meanwhile, Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad, a group of pro-Awami League lawyers, demanded resignation of the Chief Justice by August 24, otherwise, they would go for one-point movement for paving the way of his (CJ) removal. Speaking at a protest meeting, the organisation’s member secretary Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said the Chief Justice should resign within August 24, by withdrawing the 16th Amendment verdict that scrapped the parliament’s power to remove a Supreme Court judges for his/her misconduct or incapability.
He was addressing a protest meeting organised by Awami Ainjibi Parishad at the Supreme Court Bar Association premises, against the 16th Amendment case verdict of the apex court.
“SK Sinha threatened our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by citing the reference of a Pakistan court order that disqualified their prime minsiter Nawaz Sharif. By doing this, the chief justice has violated his oath. Therefore, he [CJ] has to resign from office,” Taposh said, threatening a one-point movement, otherwise, from October.
Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad convener Advocate Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Advocate SM Rezaul Karim, Advocate Nurul Islam Sujon, MP, and Advocate Rabiul Alam Budu, also spoke at the programme.
In a separate programme, AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif suggested that Chief Justice Sinha to go to Pakistan if he does not feel comfortable in Bangladesh.
He also said the Chief Justice wants to establish the ideology of Pakistan in Bangladesh. “Do you think of yourself as a soldier of Pakistan? Then, there is no room for a Pakistani soldier in this country.
Go to Pakistan if you don’t feel comfortable in this country. You have the right to go to Pakistan but don’t try to establish ideology of Pakistan in Bangladesh,” he said, while addressing a discussion on the occasion of August 15, in Dhaka. The AL leader said if the people of Bangladesh turn against someone, those persons would not be able to flee the country.
Demanding the Chief Justice’s resignation, Hanif said the Chief Justice has no moral right to stay in office, as he has already breached his oath by meeting war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury during the latter’s trial.
At another programme in Chhitagong, AL leader Hasan Mahmud also demanded the resignation of Chief Justice Sinha. “S.K. Sinha stigmatised the constitutional position by breaching his oath. So, he doesn’t have any right to cling to his office,” he said.
