Editorial
Abide by the Supreme Court verdict
This is what the people would expect
The highest court of the country has spoken in Khaleda Zia case pertaining to Dhaka Cantonment residence since vacated by her. The Supreme Court has dismissed the 'leave-to-appeal' petition filed by her challenging the HC verdict that declared valid the government notice asking her to leave the house in question. Moreover, her other petitions for staying the High Court order and seeking status quo over the house issue have also been turned down by the three-member Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque.
As it turned out, Khaleda Zia's lawyers did not move the leave-to-appeal petition within 90 minutes of the court's opening in accord with the laid down serial and the procedure. They wanted the last item on the list, that is contempt of court petition to be heard first to which the court said that it could not deviate from the serial in which the petitions have been itemised. The judges held the view that the legal process impels them not to make a departure from the standard procedure. So, it asked for submission of the leave-to-appeal petition first which Khaleda's lawyers were not evidently prepared to do.
We are strongly of the view that once the BNP has taken recourse to the court it should have seen to the last exhausting all legal avenues without what clearly amounted to dictating terms to the court and pressuring it to give a hearing to something out of turn.
Now that the court has spoken it is of fundamental necessity for a democratic political party to respect its verdict and abide by it.
It's also important to realise for the BNP that after the court has spoken the hartal appears to be against the verdict. If God forbids, it leads to violence and loss of innocent lives it will be held against the BNP.
As we have written before, we do it again, to say we feel that the government should have kept from taking a precipitate action on the cantonment residence without waiting to see the notice period of a month elapse and the court process completed. Having said that, we would urge the BNP to respect the verdict of the Supreme Court by all means.
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