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AL to stay silent until CJ retires: report in Prothom Alo, Aug 25, 2017

Ruling Awami League has decided to stay quiet until chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha goes into his retirement probably after five months on 31 January 2018.

The party somehow wants to spend the five-month time without facing any embarrassment, said party insiders.

The government wants to have negotiations with the CJ in this regard, they added.

Ever since the Supreme Court released its full verdict on the 16th amendment, many AL leaders have been demanding that the CJ expunge some of his observations. And the party’s position was to file a review petition to this effect.

Recently, some AL leaders even demanded the CJ’s resignation.

Two senior AL leaders – Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahled – met the president on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s international affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi had a meeting with the chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

Before this, several meeting were held between the prime minister and the president, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader and the chief justice, and others.

These meetings are parts of a solution of the current crisis, said ruling party policymakers.

An AL leader told Prothom Alo that the party wanted the judiciary to expunge some ‘unwarranted’ observations of the 16th amendment annulment verdict spontaneously on its own. But that did not happen. The party did not want to send the CJ on forced leave or for him to resign. The only better option the party has is to buy time until the CJ retires.

He also said that after CJ’s retirement, AL will file a review petition to reconsider the 16th amendment verdict.

Another top AL leader said the government does not want to take stern steps against the CJ. The ruling party will try to pressurise him politically but try to negotiate behind the curtain.

AL advisory council member and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Yusuf Hossain Humayun told Prothom Alo that the 16th amendment annulment verdict has to be faced legally.

But the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is trying to fish in troubled waters, he added.

Yusuf Hossain Humayun further said that the AL will not fall into BNP’s trap. And, BNP’s conspiracy will not be successful, he added.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on 3 July this year scrapped the 16th amendment to the constitution.

The amendment empowered parliament to remove Supreme Court judges in cases of incapacity or misconduct.

Later, the full text of the verdict was released 1 August, stirring a huge debate over which of the state organs is sovereign – the legislature or the judiciary.

Earlier, on 17 September in 2014, the AL-led 10th parliament unanimously passed the Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill.http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/157459/AL-to-stay-silent-until-CJ-retires

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