Mohammad Shishir Monir, the lawyer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has sought the cancellation of Article 70 of the Constitution. In the hearing of the rule issued on the validity of the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution, he said, 'Article 70 of the Constitution undermines a form of freedom of speech. For this, we want to cancel Article 70.
On Thursday, the bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury held a hearing like the sixth day. Shishir Monir participated in the hearing as a lawyer for Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. Later, the court fixed next Wednesday for the next hearing.
In view of the writ filed by five persons, the High Court issued the rule on August 19. The ruling sought to know why the fifteenth amendment to the constitution made during the Awami League government should not be declared illegal and inconsistent with the constitution. To assist the court in that ruling (as an intervener), party secretary general Professor Mia Golam Parwar was joined on behalf of the Jamaat on October 22. And on October 29, the party's secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir joined the BNP.
In Thursday's hearing, Shishir Monir said, the fifteenth amendment of the constitution destroyed the democratic system of Bangladesh and established authoritarianism. And by establishing this authoritarianism, all the democratic institutions of Bangladesh have been destroyed. The Election Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and even the Judiciary have been virtually destroyed. It is against the basic foundation of Bangladesh.
Shishir Monir said that the electoral system has been destroyed by abolishing the caretaker government system. A fair and impartial election process has been obstructed. The election process has gone to a stage where election is no longer election it has become selection. The Fifteenth Amendment has destroyed the hopes and aspirations of the people of Bangladesh. People of Bangladesh believe in voting as a festival. The destruction of that festival led to an authoritarian government.
He said that the caretaker government system came in the constitution of Bangladesh based on the opinions of all political parties. To destroy the caretaker government is to destroy the constitution.
