By IANS,
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s military-backed caretaker government has been asked by the Dhaka High Court to justify the imposition of emergency on Jan 11, 2007, under which the government has curbed political activity.`
The high court Sunday gave the government four weeks to justify the emergency, even as it partially lifted some of the curbs, allowing holding of rallies and campaigning for the civic polls due Aug 4.
The government is also engaged in a political dialogue to prepare for the parliamentary polls that were called off last year.
The development takes place even as parties, whether or not they are participating in the civic polls, are putting pressure on the government to hold the parliamentary polls earlier than December, the New Age newspaper reported Monday.
The bench of Justices Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mashuq Hossain Ahmed ordered the government to explain why the proclamation of the state of emergency, suspension of fundamental rights, Emergency Powers Ordinance and the Emergency Powers Rules should not be declared as violation of the constitution.
The government will also need to detail in an affidavit when the national elections would be held and how it would hand over power to the elected representatives. Issuing the directive, the court also observed the government’s plan for power handover must be transparent.
The court passed the orders after a four-day hearing of a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyers M. Saleem Ullah, Mohsen Rashid, Nahid Sultana Juthi and Abdul Mannan Khan July 14.
Meanwhile, the government is yet to reply to the June 15 Dhaka High Court ruling asking it to explain the legality of some provisions of Emergency Powers Rules and Emergency Powers Ordinance.