Extrajudicial Killings
Habibur raps home minister's no-sorry stance
Former chief justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman yesterday said he is disappointed because the home minister does not regret extrajudicial killings rather she defends them on grounds of "self-defence".
"There is not a slightest bit of remorse, nor is there any instance of punishment," he said while delivering a memorial speech on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary.
Bangalee Samagra, a museum that preserves works of the enlightened Bangalees, organised the event at an auditorium of National Museum.
Alluding to the Indemnity Act, 2003 which protected officers of Operation Clean Heart, the legal expert said, "A black law was passed in 2003 to give sweeping indemnity."
Muhammad Habibur Rahman, former chief adviser to a caretaker government, talked about various aspects of laws of the British rule in the Indian sub-continent and Rabindranath Tagore's views on them.
Rabindranath severely criticised the colonial laws, he said. Many laws of the country are still influenced by the British laws. The authorities repeatedly spoke of amending those, but there have not been real efforts to that end.
The jurist said the highest courts of many countries are making arrangements for compensating the victims of violation of the rights recognised by their constitutions.
"In contrast, we are making ways to indemnify rights violators," he said.
Poet Ahmad Rafiq, who chaired the programme, said Rabindranath took measures to minimise the gap between urban and rural people and established banks to give credits to farmers and the poor.
People should read more of Rabindranath's works to know his revolutionary thoughts on social issues.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Dhaka University Emeritus Prof Anisuzzaman, drama personality Atiqul Haque Chowdhury also spoke at the event.
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