Noman Mosharef :
Law advisor Asif Nazrul has said that the journey towards the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election has begun.
He said a search committee to form the Election Commission has been formed. Once the Chief Advisor signs the papers, a circular will be issued within a couple of days.
The advisor was speaking to the media after a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, at the secretariat on Tuesday.
He said once the search committee is formed, the Election Commission will also be formed.
Asif Nazrul said there is no question of abolishing the death sentence in connection with the trial of the fascist government that killed thousands of students.
There is no scope to expect any such decision.
Asif Nazrul said that Volker Turk has asked for the draft of the amendments to the International Crimes Tribunal. “We will give them the draft,” he said.
On the other hand, different sources from Supreme Court (SC) confirmed that the Chief Justice (CJ) Dr Sayed Rifat Ahamed has nominated SC’s Appellate Division Senior Justice Zubair Rahman Chowdhury as the chief of search committee while High Court (HC) division senior justice AKM Asaduzzaman as a member.
After confirmed their nomination, the SC administration has send letter to the cabinet division, sources said.
Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, head of the election system reform commission said there is no contradictory situation between the reform commission and the search committee.
“Reform commission will propose their recommendation within December 31, 2024.
The proposed recommendation will be implemented or not depends on the government as it’s not the matter of our headache”.
When asked,will the search committee work after reform committee’s recommendation; Dr Majumdar said we did not talk on the issue. We are thinking about reforming the system.
The accused persons in the International Crimes Tribunal will be given all legal rights, Asif Nazrul said. He said that the UN has asked for Bangladesh’s human rights commission to be strengthened.
In reply to a question of the journalists, Asif Nazrul said, if the government wants, it will avail forensic or technical support from the UN. Justice will be done.
There will be no injustice. There will be no injustice as in the past.
Earlier, after the meeting with Asif Nazrul, Volker Turk told journalists they had discussed establishing the rule of law and human rights. The two issues were linked.
He said they had discussed ensuring human rights by means of the reforms that the interim government had undertaken.
Turk said, “The fact-finding committee is investigating the killings of July.” He said that they are giving due importance to the matter and that their headquarters were overseeing the entire matter.
Replying to a question as to whether Awami League would be able to contest in the next election or not, Asif Nazrul said, “A political party has killed thousands of people and maimed thousands other.
Their leader is still talking about terrorist activities from outside the country, sitting in another country and threatening action against 287 persons.
She (Hasina) is accused of mass killing. I doubt if people will accept them contesting the election before they are put on trial.”
The law advisor said, “Just imagine, even after carrying out this mass killing, she is issuing threats.
She calls our leaders ‘teen gangs’. It is for the people to decide whether this party should have political rights or not.”
In reply to another question, Asif Nazrul said, “The UN has called for revoking the death sentence worldwide. But only a few countries have revoked this. This is their commitment and they will speak about this. No government in the past revoked the death sentence either.”
In January 27, 2022, the then government passed “Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Bill-2022” in the parliament.
According to the law, the President will form a six-member search committee to recommend names of qualified candidates to be appointed as the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election commissioners (ECs).
The search committee will include a judge from the Appellate Division nominated by the Chief Justice, another judge from the High Court Division nominated by the Chief Justice, the Auditor General and Comptroller of Bangladesh, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission, and two prominent citizens nominated by the President, one of whom will be a woman.
Appellate Division judge will act as the head of the search committee, which is tasked to submit its recommendations to the President within 15 working days of the committee’s formation.
