No reforms in AL until Hasina is set free, says Zillur

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Awami League acting president Zillur Rahman Thursday said there will be no reform in the party before Sheikh Hasina is set free while a committee has been formed comprising eight lawyers to fight for Hasina in a graft case.
On the other hand, Law Adviser Mainul Hosein said the government would not interfere in Sheikh Hasina's case, report bdnews24. com/UNB.
"Why reform keeping the leader in jail? All misunderstandings among us have been removed. The leaders and workers of the party at all levels are now united to free the leader," he told reporters at his Gulshan home.
Zillur, also a former general secretary, said if indoor politics was reintroduced and if reforms were to take place, only in presence of Hasina would they be carried out.
"At the moment there will be no reform in the Awami League. First, the party president will have to be freed," the veteran politician said.
He welcomed Hasina's archrival BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's statement demanding release of the AL chief. "She (Khaleda) acted like a political leader," Zillur said.
On his meeting with presidium members Abdur Razzak and Tofail Ahmed, he said, "The two leaders have no grudges".
Razzak and Tofail in their reform proposals had criticised Hasina for her "single leadership".
"Now the Awami League will take all decisions in consultation with all."
He said Hasina's name was not in the first information report (FIR) of the extortion case.
"There is no proof either that she demanded toll. In an incident dating eight years back a case cannot be filed under the Emergency Power Rules. We will press on with legal battle."
The party formed a committee with eight lawyers for freeing Hasina, Zillur said.
The makeshift president said cases were filed against those who had wailed after Hasina's arrest but nothing was done to those who had brought out jubilant processions.
UNB adds: A hundred Supreme Court lawyers lined up to fight for the detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in all the criminal cases so far filed against her.
They offered their legal support when a group of senior lawyers of the Supreme Court in a meeting Thursday discussed the cases pending with lower and higher courts against the Awami League president, who has been arrested in an extortion case and detained in a special jail. Former Law Minister Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru said nearly 100 SC lawyers expressed their willingness to stand for Hasina in the law-courts.
He said an application has already been sent to the Home Secretary for permission to meet Hasina and seek her counsel about the cases. "We're waiting for the Home Ministry's response."
Khasru said they also applied for collecting the certified copies of all cases against the AL chief and orders of the court that rejected her bail on July 16 in connection with the extortion case filed with Gulshan Thana by a power-company boss, Azam J Chowdhury. He said they were also in contact with acting AL president Zillur Rahman for necessary guidance. Zillur took the mantle of leadership of the party from Sheikh Hasina when she was arrested last Monday July 16.
However, Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein said on the day, the onus lies with the court to decide whether to set free the detained Awami League chief. Mainul Hosein's comment came a day after immediate-past PM and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia demanded immediate release of her arch political foe, Sheikh Hasina, also a former Prime Minister. The adviser made it clear that their caretaker government was not interfering in Hasina's case. "It's the court's jurisdiction to decide her fate, ' he said.
"Government has no connection with Hasina's case, and the government is not interfering in it. The law would follow its own course," he said talking with reporters at his Law Ministry office.
Responding to a query about the BNP chairperson's demand for immediate release of detained Hasina, the Law Adviser said it is for the court to decide whether the AL President should be freed or not.
Mainul also said governments had interfered in several cases in the past, but the present government does not want to do so as the government wants to stay above criticism. "The government doesn't care against whom cases to be filed and against whom not."

He said if anyone is sued under any specific allegation, he or she must suffer punishment.
"The government has no connection with legal procedure," he added.