Unreasonable demand
During an Iftar party hosted for the diplomats on September 26, 2008, AL Acting President Zillur Rahman claimed that withdrawal of all 'false cases' against Hasina was essential to create a congenial atmosphere for free, fair and transparent elections, and remarked that it would be impossible to move forward without making Hasina's release permanent. Mr. Rahman has however not clarified how does the holding of trial of an individual leader under the law of the land can interfere with the creation of a congenial atmosphere for free, fair and transparent elections. How can Mr. Rahman term cases against Hasina as false before the adjudication takes place? Does he have the moral or legal authority to exonerate an accused before the trial is held in a court of law? Does Mr. Rahman, himself a veteran lawyer, and his party the AL believe that all are equal in the eye of law? If so, how can he make such an unreasonable demand, that too in the presence of foreign diplomats who are supposed not to poke their nose in our internal affairs?
Unfortunately, over the years, we have built up a very bad political culture in our country. No sooner a criminal case of, say, corruption, extortion, murder etc is filed against a politician, then his/her cohorts come out in chorus demanding withdrawal of the case terming it as a false one. It is high time we come out of this dangerous culture which was primarily responsible for breeding corruption in our country. If none of the political leaders was corrupt then who made Bangladesh a leading corrupt country? Let our leaders like Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia set examples by fighting the cases filed against them in the court of law. They should also ask their followers not to raise such unreasonable demands as Mr. Rahman has done. Our judiciary is now independent. Surely they have nothing to fear. If they are proved not guilty in the court, I am sure, their public image will not only be free from the present cloud, it will be much brighter. Fighting such cases in the court, and winning them, will discourage a sitting government from filing such cases if these are really false.
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