HC asks for list of laws containing 'Pakistan', 'East Pakistan'
The court has also issued a ruling asking why inaction to exclude the words and amend the laws will not be considered illegal
The High Court has asked the government to list the laws of the country where the words "Pakistan", "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and "East Pakistan" still exist.
A High Court bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury passed the order on Monday on a preliminary hearing on a writ petition filed in the public interest.
The court asked the persons concerned, including the secretary of the cabinet department and the secretary of legislative and parliamentary affairs, to submit the list within one month.
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Besides, the court has issued a ruling asking why inaction to exclude the words and amend the laws will not be considered illegal.
The secretary of the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Ministry of Law has been asked to respond to the rule within four weeks.
Petitioner lawyer Kamrul Islam said after the independence of the country, the prevailing (the Pakistan era) laws were adopted. Then in the "Bangladesh Laws (Revision and Declaration) Act" of 1973, the words "Pakistan", "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and "East Pakistan" were asked to be deleted.
Later, the words were omitted in some laws, but remain in many laws. Among them, the Cattle (Prevention of Trespass) Ordinance, 1959; the Engineering and Technological Universities Ordinance, 1961; the Agriculture University Ordinance, 1961; the Agricultural Pests Ordinance, 1962; the Indecent Advertisements Provision Act, 1962; the Censorship of Films Act, 1963; the Pilotage Ordinance, 1969 and the Government Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1970 are notable.
Lawyer Md Rabiul Alam filed a writ stating that not omitting these words is a violation of the 1973 Act. The High Court ruled on the hearing of the writ, asking the secretary of the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division to form a five-member committee to list these laws still having those words and submit the list within 60 days, said lawyer Kamrul Islam.
