| EC can ban religion-based parties: WP | | | | Fri, Nov 2nd, 2007 7:41 pm BdST | | http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=3&id=27243 |
| Dhaka, Nov 2 (bdnews24.com) – The Election Commission can bar religion-based political parties from getting registered even without a major policy decision by the government, the Workers Party said Friday.
If the commission follows the preamble of the constitution, Representation of the People Order and its own proposed rules for electoral reforms, the task could be done easily, the party suggested.
It said now was the time to take a decision.
At a news conference at Shahid Asad auditorium, the party urged the government to form a tribunal following The International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973.
It said according to article 20 of the 1974 Special Powers Act, the formation of religion-based party is not only banned but it is a punishable crime.
The preamble of the constitution highly speaks of the "brave martyrs" who sacrificed their lives in 1971. It has spelt out that the spirit of independence war should be one of the fundamental principles of the constitution.
The party, a component in the Awami League-led 14-party alliance, argued that failure to try anti-independence elements was a barrier to achieving democracy and peace.
It said the crimes the anti-liberation forces committed in 1971 were not against any individual but against humanity and the nation as a whole.
That the war criminals be tried and stopped from running the polls had become "a national demand", it observed.
The demand received a huge boost after the chief adviser, the army chief and the chief election commissioner spoke in clear terms against the war criminals.
In a written statement, the party took a dig at the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh for its recent statement that war criminals had been pardoned through Simla Pact between Pakistan and India after Bangladesh gained independence.
Also, it came down heavily on the Jamaat for claiming that the government headed by independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman granted amnesty to people who had collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971.
The party termed the Jamaat's statements false, saying there was no amnesty for the people who were involved in crimes such as killing, rape, arson and looting.
The order on Jamaat's ex-supremo Golam Azam and other party leaders on Feb 14, 1972 to appear before their respective district courts proved that they had not been pardoned, it said.
It claimed that the then chief prosecutor Sirajul Haq and prosecutor Aminul Huq had started the process of trying the war criminals in 1973.
But the efforts stalled as president Ziaur Rahman had scrapped laws that could deal with the matter.
The party was not happy with statements by two interim advisers that trying the war criminals involves a major policy decision and a makeshift government cannot take such decision.
Party president Rashed Khan Menon questioned why it was not possible when the government was deciding on all other serious issues.
Asked if the remarks by the advisers meant that the advisers sided with the anti-independence quarters, Menon said he did not want to comment.
"However, the statements of the advisers have created confusion among the people," he added.
Senior leaders of the party attended the news briefing.
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