FE REPORT
The two writ petitions which were filed seeking ban on the political activities of Awami League and 10 other political parties in the country and also challenging legality of last three national elections were withdrawn on Tuesday.
Petitioners' lawyer Ahsanul Karim took back the petitions from the High Court (HC) as they are not inclined to proceed with these petitions.
During the hearing, Mr Karim told the HC bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi that his clients will not proceed with the petitions. The bench then dropped the petitions from its cause-list.
Later, the lawyer told reporters that his clients have instructed him not to proceed with the petitions before the HC.
He, however, refused to disclose the reasons behind backtracking from moving the petitions.
Although the lawyer could not say the exact reasons why his clients decided not to proceed with the petitions, he claimed that the decision was taken in the larger interest of the country.
Three coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement-- Md Abul Hasnat, Md Sarjis Alam and Md Hasibul Islam -filed the writ petitions.
In one petition, they sought directives from the High Court on the government bodies concerned not to allow Bangladesh Awami League and 10 other political parties to carry out any kind of political activities within the territory of Bangladesh.
The 10 other parties are Jatiya Party (Ershad), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Jatiya Party (Manju), Bangaldesh Tarikat Federation, Ganatantri Dal, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party, Marxist-Leninist (Barua) and Socialist Party of Bangladesh.
They sought a ban on the political parties for their indiscriminate killings of the citizens during the July massacre, destroying democratic institutions and unconstitutionally usurping the state power without due process of law.
In another petition, they prayed to the HC to issue a rule upon the bodies concerned of the government to explain as to why the 10th, 11th and 12th parliamentary elections shall not be declared illegal.
The coordinators sought a rule to explain as to why the respondents should not be directed to ban all political activities of Awami League and 10 other political parties, including barring them from participating in all next elections.
The petitions were placed on October 27 before the HC bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Mubina Asaf.
However, the bench dropped the petitions from its cause-list on Monday.
Deputy Attorney-General Mahfuz Bin Yousuf who is attached to the HC bench headed by Justice Fahmida Quader told the FE that the court suggested the lawyers of the petitioners to place the petitions to another bench as serious constitutional issues are involved here.
Later, those were placed before the HC bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi on the same day and on Tuesday those came into the cause-list for hearing.
However, the lawyer of the petitioners withdrawn these petitions without any hearing.
[email protected]
