Gulam Rabbani :
Pro-BNP lawyers of the Supreme Court have been engaged in an internal conflict for the recent months. The problem has become so obvious that pro-BNP lawyers have recently been involved in physical assaults.
Sources said the conflict comes into the front with the formation of the Supreme Court unit of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a platform of pro-BNP lawyers. The forum declared the 251-member unit on January 26 this year.
Advocate Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan was picked up as the President and Advocate Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal was the Secretary of the unit. Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum’s central Convener Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Member-Secretary Advocate Fazlur Rahman approved the committee.
Meanwhile, many of the pro-BNP lawyers who couldn’t secure their position in the unit declared another committee for the Supreme Court unit. Advocate Golam Mostafa has been declared as the President of the 501-member new committee and Advocate Rafiqul Haque Talukder Raja as the Secretary.
The leaders of the new committee said that they formed the committee maintaining the due process of law. They hold a general meeting on January 24 this year and accordingly they organized convention on February 1 for forming the committee.
After forming the new committee two rival groups of the pro-BNP lawyers have recently been engaged in several clashes on the Supreme Court premises. Now they are going to declare separate panels for the upcoming election of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
The committee that was formed on February 1 has already declared a panel under the banner of ‘Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya Panel’. In the panel Advocate ABM Waliur Rahman has been named for contesting the post of President and Advocate Mirza Al Mahmud named for the Secretary post.
Another panel is supposed to be declared today (Monday) by the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum’s central committee headed by Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain.
Advocate Taimur Alam Khondaker, a pro-BNP lawyer in the Supreme Court, said, “It is a shame to have grouping in the pro-BNP lawyers at this difficult time of the country. I seek Tarique Rahman’s interference to resolve this crisis.”
The committee declared on February 1 included the name of Taimur Alam, but the lawyer later withdrew his name from it.
Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum’s central Convener Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, “Lawyers of the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum in Supreme Court are united. A section is trying to create a crisis by going beyond the discipline of the forum. We are not worried about this.”
