Staff Reporter :
BNP standing committee member Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah has said that the ongoing movement would be continued until the downfall of the present Awami League-led government.
Addressing a rally in the city on Sunday, he came down heavily on the government for severing electricity supply and cutting off Internet, cable and phone connection to BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office. He claimed that the utility services were disconnected with an attempt to kill Khaleda Zia.
Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, the pro-BNP lawyers’ platform, arranged the rally in front of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) building following a procession. The lawyers brought out the procession in the court premises in support of the BNP-led-20-party alliance called countrywide 72-hour hartal.
Rafiqul Islam Miah, also president of the forum, presided over the rally, while former president of the SCBA Advocate Joynul Abedin, its secretary Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Supreme Court lawyers Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker and Advocate Abed Raza addressed it, among others.
In his presidential speech, Rafiqul Islam Miah said that the High Court could issue a ‘sue-motto rule’ following the disconnection of the utility services to Khaleda Zia’s office, but any judge of the apex court did not do this. It was unexpected, he added. He urged the Chief Justice not to continue the court activities during the hartal.
However, the pro-BNP lawyers in the rally predicted that the present government won’t survive in the power for long. “The government has to quit power by February 13 in the face of the movement,” said Advocate Joynul Abedin.
Joynul Abedin, who is also an adviser to the BNP chairperson, also said that the ongoing street movement was launched for protecting the lives and prosperities of the people. The downfall of the government would be ensured in the face of people’s demand, he added.
