Tarique sends legal notice to Qamrul

BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman yesterday sent a legal notice to State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam for making a “derogatory and defamatory” statement against him.
Tarique's lawyer Kayser Kamal issued the notice asking the state minister to withdraw his statement and apologise to Tarique within two weeks. Otherwise, legal actions would be taken against Qamrul.
The notice stated the minister accused Tarique of “conspiring” to topple the government, and that he was staying in London on an expired parole. It quoted reports published in the dailies Samakal and Ittefaq on May 25 and 26.
It said Qamrul's statement was false, as Tarique was granted bail from the Supreme Court to be able to go abroad for treatment.
“… you [Qamrul] made the statement on purpose to undermine him [Tarique] politically and socially and damaged [and] belittled his reputation before the society for which you [Qamrul] are criminally liable as well as liable for damage under the civil law…”
The notice also stated that the BNP leader believed in democracy, and the government could only be changed by the people through a democratic process.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said the lower court lawfully allowed the Anti-Corruption Commission to seek the Interpol's help to arrest Tarique Rahman in connection with a money-laundering case.
One of Tarique's other lawyers, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, claimed the lower court order was unlawful and ineffective.