The Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a platform of pro-BNP lawyers, on Wednesday announced that the opposition lawyers would boycott the courts across Bangladesh between January 1 and January 7 as part of the opposition’s non-cooperation movement.
The forum made the announcement at a news conference at the South Hall of the Supreme Court Lawyers’ Association. They said that they would boycott the Supreme Court and all its subordinate courts during the period.
The forum secretary general Kayser Kamal said in the press conference that the court boycotting programme was announced to express solidarity with the non-cooperation movement of the opposition parties demanding the boycott of the ‘dummy’ election and the resignation of the government.
‘I call on lawyers all over the country to make the movement for democracy successful through peaceful programmes, without paying heed to the government or any of its supporters’ incitement,’ Kayser said in the briefing.
Kayser said that the chief justice and other judges from the Supreme Court to magistrate courts would be informed of the boycott by sending letters from December 31.
Kayser said that a total of 23,460 pro-democracy leaders were arrested and 684 cases were filed since October 28.
He said that a total of 1,482 opposition leaders and activists were sentenced to various terms in the past 16 weeks.
Former speaker Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Zainul Abedin, the forum’s president AJ Mohammad Ali, the bar association’s former secretaries AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Bodruddiza Badal and Ruhul Quddus Kazal, BNP vice chairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury, United Lawyers Front co-convenor Subrata Chowdhury, convener of Supreme Court Bar Association ad-hoc court committee Shah Alam Badal, the forum’s Supreme Court unit general secretary Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, among others, were present.
New Age
