TDS Desk:

Three co-ordinators of the anti-discrimination movement — Sarjis Alam, Abul Hsanat and Hasibul Islam — have backtracked from their dual legal challenge against the political activities of 11 political parties and the last three national elections held under the AL government.

They withdrew the two writ petitions involving these issues from the High Court today through their lawyer Advocate Ahsanul Karim.

The anti-discrimination movement leaders filed two separate writ petitions yesterday with the HC. One of them sought its order on the government authorities concerned to prevent 11 political parties, including the Awami League, from carrying out any kind of political activities within the territory of Bangladesh, declaring them “terrorist organisations”. The other challenged the legality of the 10th, 11th, and 12th parliamentary elections.

The 10 other political parties mentioned in the petitions are the Jatiya Party (Ershad), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Tarikat Federation, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Jatiya Party (Manju), Ganatantri Dal, Marxist–Leninist (Barua), and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh.

Today, the petitioners’ lawyer Ahsanul Karim told the HC bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi that his clients will not proceed with the petitions.

The bench then rejected the petitions “as being not pressed” meaning the petitions were not presented properly.

Advocate Ahsanul Karim told that his clients have instructed him not to proceed with the petitions before the HC.

He, however, refused to disclose the reasons behind backtracking from moving the petitions.

“I don’t know why my clients have decided not to proceed with the petitions,” lawyer Ahsanul Karim said.

Sarjis Alam, Abul Hasnat, and Hasibul Islam had submitted the writ petitions seeking the HC directives for “the indiscriminate killing of citizens, destroying democratic institutions, and unconstitutionally usurping the state power without due process of law”.

In one petition, they prayed to the HC to issue a rule asking the respondents—the law secretary, the home secretary, the Election Commission and the inspector general of police—to explain why they should not be directed to ban all political activities of the 11 parties, including barring them from participating in all future elections and after the parties are heard and the causes shown, to make the rule absolute.

In another petition, the petitioners prayed to the HC to issue a rule asking the respondents concerned to show causes as to why the 10th, 11th and 12th parliamentary elections, held on January 5, 2014, December 30, 2018, and January 7, 2024, should not be declared to have been held and conducted without lawful authority and is of no legal effect, and why they should not be directed to cancel the gazette notifications issued on January 8, 2014, January 1, 2019 and January 9, 2024 in connection with 10th, 11th and 12th parliamentary elections respectively, and furthermore as to why the charge of sedition should not be brought against the persons who were elected parliament members under the nominations from the 11 political parties in those elections.

In the petition, the HC was also urged to issue a rule asking the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman to cancel the plots allotted to the so-called parliament members elected in those elections and to recover the tax and customs benefits received for importing duty-free vehicles, as well as the remuneration and emoluments from those parliament members under the nominations from the 11 political parties.