Row over 16th amendment: Fakhrul apprehends constitutional crisis

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UNB, Dhaka :
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday feared that a constitutional crisis may be created following a row between the legislative and the judiciary over the 16th amendment to the Constitution.
“The country is facing serious political and financial crises. There’ s a chance for the emergence of a constitutional crisis following the conflict between the judiciary and parliament,” he said.
Fakhrul came up with the remarks while speaking at a discussion arranged by National People’s Party (NPP) at Dhaka Reports’ Unity (DRU) protesting the submission of chargesheets against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two cases of violence filed with Darussalam Police Station in the city.
Earlier on May 5, the High Court declared the 16th amendment to the Constitution establishing parliament’s power to remove the Supreme Court judges illegal and contradictory to the charter.
Fakhrul said, a suffocating situation has been created in the country as the government has re-established one-party ‘Baksal’ rule in the country in a different style.
He alleged that ruling party men in the name of development have looted hundreds of crore taka and siphoned it off. “The evidence of their involvement in plundering public money has started surfacing from different places.”
The BNP leader said the government is implicating Khaleda Zia in ‘false’ cases one after another as part of its conspiracy to annihilate nationalist forces by removing the BNP chairperson from politics.
He criticised Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, saying he wants to establish democracy by removing Khaleda from politics, though he does not believe in the basics of democracy.
Fakhrul also asked Inu to clear his party’s position that whether it supports one-party democracy or multiparty democracy. “It’s mentioned in the charter of your party that you want scientific socialism. What do you mean by it? You’ll have to clear it before the nation whether you support one-party democracy or multiparty democracy. It’s a fundamental question.”
Mentioning that people’s all rights have been snatched by the government, Fakhrul said there is no alternative to waging a movement together with people to have all rights and democracy restored.

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