Khaleda's cantt house drama heightens

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Attorney General Mahbub-e-Alam said that it would be a contempt of court if BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia does not vacate her cantonment house by November 12, reports bdnews24.com.
The High Court (HC) on October 13, 2010 rejected Khaleda's petition challenging a government notice to vacate the house and ordered her to leave within 30 days.
Justices Nazmun Ara Sultana and Sheikh Hassan Arif, after a 22-day hearing, ruled that the government notice asking Khaleda Zia to vacate her cantonment house was legal.
"The house was given illegally to Khaleda on June 13, 1981 through a so-called lease agreement. Following the verdict, the army has got the house back," the attorney general had said after the verdict.
Immediately, the pro-BNP lawyers took out a procession on the Supreme Court premises in protest against the verdict.
Mr Alam Thursday at a press briefing at his office said: "The court has stipulated a time frame for vacating the house. So it would be a violation of the court order if she does not, do so."
He expressed the hope that the opposition leader would voluntarily leave the house.
Replying to a question, M Alam said despite Khaleda's leave to appeal and a petition to stay the HC order, "Her lawyers did not request for the stay and the High Court did not too."
"So the lawyers' claim that a HC verdict is automatically stayed when a 'leave to appeal' is accepted, is baseless," the attorney general said.
A regular bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, Wednesday adjourned hearing on Khaleda's petition until November 29.
Regarding the possibility of removing Khaleda after November 12, he said the house was under the army. "They will decide on it."
Meanwhile, Mr Alam's comment was, however, dismissed instantly by the BNP Secretary General Khandker Delwar Hossain as 'unlawful and politically motivated'.
Delwar at a meeting Thursday evening over Alam's comments said, "According to the law, it is unlawful to do anything when the issue is under trial. It will be treated as politically motivated."
Asking the attorney general to ensure that justice should prevail, the BNP secretary general said, "Don't disgrace the court."
Delwar also reiterated his claims that the government was bent on uprooting the opposition by filing cases against the opposition one after another.