Repeated amendments to constitution is abusive
Says Dr Kamal Hossain
Terming the constitution the nation's biggest achievement after independence, eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday said people should be made aware of its integrity and dignity and be ready to sacrifice life to protect it.
The constitution has been abused and hurt at different times in the past causing damage to democracy, he said, adding that politicisation was the first enemy of the constitution.
Amending the constitution again and again is a kind of its abuse, while interference in the judiciary hurts it, he said.
Dr Kamal, who was an author of the country's constitution, was addressing a discussion on “Second Colloquium on the Constitution” organised by Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) in its auditorium in the capital.
He said the constitution's supremacy must be upheld for the development of future generation. “No one, be he or she the president, a judge or a minister, is above the constitution.”
Everybody of the country, even a rickshaw puller, is the beneficiary and trustee of the constitution, he said. If the constitution is not protected, the nation will not have a bright future, he added.
Bangladesh's constitution is unique in the world, and it should not be treated from political aspects, he said.
Dr Kamal cited that Aminul Haque, a lawyer, and Anisul Haque Chowdhury, a former district judge, who had dealt with the Moyezuddin murder case, died for their efforts to protect the constitution.
An eminent lawmaker, Moyezuddin was killed by terrorists in Gazipur in 1984 during a hartal against the autocratic rule of HM Ershad.
Aminul and Anisul had attempted to execute the life term jail sentence of Moyezuddin's convicted killer Azam Khan but failed due to the presidential mercy granted by Ershad, he said.
Dr Kamal said the country's people should be made aware of the right use of the constitution so that they became ready to sacrifice their lives to protect it. The media could play a big role in this regard, he said.
Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam, who presided over the meeting, said the recent discussion in the parliament criticising judges was an unhealthy debate.
He also said the message that the constitution was supreme and sovereign had to be spread to the primary school level.
In his keynote paper, Rabiul Islam, a teacher of Jahangirnagar University, said Article 70 should be amended to establish the rights of freedom of speech of lawmakers so that they could criticise and vote against their own parties without being subject to lose their parliamentary membership.
He also recommended that the grounds on which the president had granted clemency to some convicts should be made public. "The conclusion drawn by the president with grounds might be published by the authentic judgment compilations like Dhaka Law Reports, Bangladesh Law Digest,” he said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments