BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have termed the verdict delivered against Jamaat ameer and former minister Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar on the arms haul case as ‘political’.
In an instant reaction, BNP vice chairman Abdullah-al-Noman said that the case is a political case and the verdict is a political one. The leaders of BNP and Jamaat and high-officials of the military and civil administration were implicated in the case in an attempt to achieve political gain, he said adding that the government want to harass the opposition political leaders and it was done in the case.
In his reaction, BNP chairperson’s adviser Ameer Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the verdict was a part of the government’s conspiracy against the leaders of opposition political parties. There is no rule of law in the country. For this reason, such political verdict came from the court, he added.
Jamaat-e-Islami also termed the verdict nothing but a part of a conspiracy against the party and other opposition parties.
In a statement, Jamaat acting secretary general Dr Shafiqur Rahman said that the verdict is the result of government’s continuous conspiracy against the Jamaat and the BNP. The court delivered the verdict as per the wishes of the government, he alleged. In protest of the verdict, leaders and workers of the party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir brought out processions in different parts of the country. They brought out a procession in Rajshahi city in the afternoon. Police dispersed the procession by firing rubber bullets and charging batons. Shibir activists exploded several cocktails in the area injuring a person, agency reports say.
In Joypurhat, the Jamaat-Shibir workers staged demonstration by blocking Joypurhat-Bogra Road. They staged demonstration at Palli Biddyut area of the road in the afternoon. At the time, 5-6 cocktails were exploded in the area. Later, police dispersed the Jamaat-Shibirmen.
Meanwhile, the defence counsels in their reaction said that the verdict was unjust and that they would appeal against it in the High Court. “We are disappointed with the verdict. It is a high-profile political case and the verdict is as well a high profile political one,” said defence counsel Quamrul Islam.
He said there was no example of handing death sentences for smuggling since the independence of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the pro-BNP lawyers brought out a procession in the court premises in Chittagong after the verdict. They chanted slogans saying that the verdict is ‘fake and illegal’. They also held a brief rally following the procession. Former PP Advocate Abdus Sattar, Advocate AQM Nurul Islam, among others, addressed the rally.
