EU team asks lawyers about judiciary's independence during election

The visiting six-member EU Election Exploratory Mission wanted to know if the judiciary would be able to play its role independently and objectively during the election at a meeting with lawyers today.

Advocate Zainul Abedin, former president of the Supreme Court Lawyers Association, and Syeda Rizwana Hasan, president of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), were among the lawyers present.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, speaking to The Business Standard, stated that the delegation enquired whether the judiciary could be exploited to suppress the opposition during elections and if it could effectively prevent any election irregularities. 

In response, Rizwana said she believes that a neutral person can be found in the judiciary if there is political will.

She emphasised the importance of a neutral administration during elections and noted that political parties must work together to ensure its neutrality. 

She also stated that a strong political will would emerge if a significant number of people demand it.

Advocate Zainul Abedin highlighted the issue of a caretaker government for fair elections and raised concerns about the arrest of former prime minister Khaleda Zia in reference to legal harassment.

He further argued that the corruption case against Khaleda cannot be valid, as it is implausible that a former prime minister was involved in corruption amounting to Tk3 crore.

In addition to the lawyers, security analyst Major General Muniruzzaman (Retd) also met with the EU delegation.