Judges to talk security, lawyers form chain
Court Correspondent
Judges from across the country meet today in the capital to discuss their security and to protest the killing of two judges in the November 14 bomb attack in Jhalakathi while lawyers formed human chains on the premises of the Supreme Court and Bar associations in the country yesterday protesting the killings, organisers said.An extended meeting of the judges will be held at the Judges Conference Room of Dhaka district court at 5:00pm, chaired by District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, also president of Bangladesh Judicial Service Association (BJSA). Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parishad (SASP), a forum of pro-opposition lawyers, organised the human chains on the Bar premises from 4:00pm to 5:00pm. Dhaka Bar Association members however formed a human chain from 9:30am to 10:00am. Earlier, the BJSA at an emergency meeting on November 14 gave an ultimatum to the government to ensure security of all judges in the country within seven days. Otherwise, they would go for a tough movement from today, the meeting warned. The BJSA also urged the government to give Tk 50,000 in compensation to the family of each of the two judges. Senior assistant judges Sohel Ahmed and Jagannath Pandey were killed a day after the Saarc Summit ended in the bomb attack by a member of the suicide squad of the banned Islamist militant outfit JMB. Today's meeting of the judges will hear their views on stepping up their security in courts and outside. The BJSA president will then announce then announce the next course of action on the issue, sources said. The Sasp will hold a meeting at the Central Shaheed Minar at 4:00 pm today to protest the killing of the two judges. More than 100 lawyers under the banner of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) held a meeting and then formed a human chain on the court premises. SCBA President Mahbubey Alam, who chaired the meeting, said no one in Bangladesh is safe now as the people have become hostage to fundamentalist- terrorist forces. "At the direct and indirect instigation of the government, fundamentalists and extremists are conspiring to destroy security system and judiciary in the country," he alleged. He urged the people and lawyers to build up a united movement to unseat the government. Speakers included SCBA General Secretary M Enayetur Rahim, Sasp leader Subrata Chowdhury, advocates MA Mannan, Nurul Islam Sujan, Bashir Ahmed, Azherullah Bhuiyan and Rabiul Alam. Subrata Chowdhury said members of most of the Bars across the country joined the human chains yesterday.
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