Law reforms crucial for justice and fairness

Sheikh Hasina's rise and clinging to power for 15 long years were through certain processes—however flawed those may be—but her fall was quite dramatic. August 5 marked our freedom from the Hasina-led Awami League dictatorship, which comprised of suppression, oppression, and merciless persecution. A new era has begun thanks to the supreme sacrifices of our young generation in particular, and the people in general. It is now the sacred duty of the entire nation to preserve and protect this newfound freedom not only for the present generation, but for future generations as well.

The interim administration, led by Nobel laureate Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus, faces far greater challenges than any of the past caretaker administrations did, starting with the first one led by Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed in 1990. On August 18, while meeting foreign diplomats and international agencies, Dr Yunus expressed his intention to reform the election commission, the judiciary, civil administration, security forces, and mass media. The list is long but it is far from exhaustive. The interim government has other things to do as well, such as holding the perpetrators of crimes to account, including financial crimes, and above all, the trial of Sheikh Hasina for committing Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) under the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973.

The 1973 act, even with its several amendments, is an outdated one. It has been heavily criticised by the international community, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Bar Association, the UK Bar Association, and the European Union for falling far below the international standard. In my capacity as Chief Defence Counsel of the 10 opposition politicians who were indicted under the 1973 act (five of whom were executed), I am fully aware of the international community's criticism.

The last nail in the coffin of the act is the very recent UK Supreme Court's verdict on it. In view of the matter, it won't be advisable to proceed with the trial of Sheikh Hasina either in her presence or in absentia with the act as it is. The trial process will not be acceptable to the international community and will rightly face a barrage of criticism.

However bleak Hasina's record may be, the interim administration's objective should not be to exact revenge but to establish rule of law. Hence, this law should be updated to the international standard. Moreover, CAH being a very complicated area of law, it is crucial that the prosecution team is be well-versed in it.

The greatest contribution of the administration would be to clean up the rotten political system, and put an end to divisive politics. Perhaps more importantly, it should open up our decade old political system to new ideas, so that educated and patriotic young people find it comfortable to enter politics and contribute to nation-building. Unhealthy student politics should be cured by national consensus.

The present constitution has become unworkable. By amending it with their brute majority, the Awami League has changed certain sections of the constitution in alignment with their party manifesto. In any event, so much power has been given to the prime minister under the constitution, and so little to the president, that a Roman emperor would envy the powers of the former instead of the latter.

The parliamentary committees under the full control of the party in power have become non-functional. In a parliamentary democracy, the opposition has a very important role to play. Under our constitution, winners take all. Ideally, we need to begin our new journey with a balanced constitution.

This administration certainly does not have the mandate to frame a new constitution for which we need a national consensus. Once a national consensus is reached, a constituent assembly needs to be elected by the people to frame a constitution within a particular period, say within 120 days. After the new constitution has been framed, the constituent assembly needs to be dissolved, and a fresh election should be held for the re-establishment of parliament.

Here, the political parties need to make sacrifices. They have to put the country before their party. Bearing in mind the 15 long years of oppression, misrule, and misuse of powers, we can reasonably expect our political parties to act purely in the nation's interests in this critical juncture of our history.

It is unfortunate that the country which produced leaders such as Shaheed Suhrawardy and AK Fazlul Haque has now become leaderless. In the early days of our independence, the late Abul Mansur Ahmad, who was an Awami Leaguer all throughout his life, used to advise and criticise the Awami League and its leadership, both privately and publicly. We do not have such a wise politician amongst us now, leading to our civil society being divided along party lines.

Finally, this administration is not yet free from external and internal existential threats. This administration matters to each and every Bangladeshis. We cannot and must not allow it to fail.

Abdur Razzaq is a senior advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court and currently practises law in the United Kingdom.

Views expressed in the article are the author's own.

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