BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Tuesday alleged that parliament is being re-empowered to remove judges in a bid to establish the Prime Minister’s absolute power over the judiciary by keeping the judges always in fear.
“The constitution amendment bill has been placed in parliament to empower it to remove judges with a view to establishing the government’s complete power over courts. With the law, the PM’s cent percent power to interfere in the judiciary will be ensured,” he said.
Nazrul, a BNP standing committee member, was addressing a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
He claimed that the judges will be appointed as per the Prime Minister’s choice instead of considering the merit and competence, while the competent and neutral judges will be removed if the bill is passed.
“The government has taken the move to empower an unelected and unrepresentative parliament to remove judges only to perpetuate its power. People don’t accept the decision as it’ll put the existence of the country at stake,” the BNP leader said.
Mentioning that there was no pressure on the government to restore parliament’s power to sack judges, Nazrul said the deliberate move of the regime has exposed its evil intention behind the hurriedly taken decision.
“We think there’s an evil design behind the government’s decision. We believe the government has taken the decision to keep judges under threat and pressure so that they deliver judgments at their behest,” Nazrul said.
The Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Bill, 2014, seeking to empower Parliament to remove Supreme Court judges, was placed in the House on Sunday. BNP has been opposing the move since it came to light saying it will cripple the judiciary and bury justice.
Reaffirming his party’s stance against the move, Nazrul said there will be no justice in the country if parliament gets back power to sack judges.
The BNP leader warned that they together with people will thwart the government’s evil design to destroy the judiciary.
Source: UNB
