HC dismisses writ seeking Hasina-Khaleda dialogue
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
A High Court (HC) bench has dismissed a writ petition filed in March last year seeking the court’s directives to hold a dialogue between Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and her political opponent and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. The bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Naima Haider passed the order following a hearing on Tuesday afternoon. Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Yunus Ali Akand filed the petition as public interest litigation (PIL) on March 14, 2013, seeking the HC directives over holding a dialogue between Prime Minister Hasina and the then opposition leader Khaleda to resolve the country’s political standoff. Following the petition, the HC on March 27 last year issued a rule upon both the PM and the opposition party to explain why they should not be directed to sit for talks. But none of them responded to the rule. The HC bench came up with the order today saying that no confrontational situation is prevailing across the country at present, according to a news agency.