Amid the on-going political uncertainty in neighboring Bangladesh, which has been the order of the day ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following student-led mass protests, President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said that he does not have any documentary evidence of her resigning as prime minister.
President Shahabuddin, according to reports, said he heard that Hasina had resigned as Prime Minister before fleeing Bangladesh, but he does not have any documentary evidence, a local newspaper reported on Monday, quoting excerpts from his interview with local media house.
“Perhaps she did not have the time,” Shahabuddin was quoted as saying.
The president said the day Hasina left the country, she wanted to meet him but she could not come.
“There was news of unrest everywhere…I asked my military secretary, General Adil (Major General Mohammad Adil Choudhury), to look into it,” he said, describing the situation when Hasina fled to India.
“…we were waiting and checking the TV scrolls. There was no news anywhere. At one point, I heard that she (Hasina) had left the country without informing me. I am telling you the truth as it is,” he said, adding that when the army chief, General Waker, came to Bangabhaban, I tried to find out whether the prime minister had resigned.
“The answer was the same, he heard she had resigned but probably did not get the time to inform us. When everything was under control, one day, the cabinet secretary came to collect a copy of the resignation letter. I told him I was also looking for it,” Shahabuddin said.
“Still, to ensure that this question never arises again, I sought the opinion of the Supreme Court,” the president said.
The court then said that in such a situation, an interim government could be formed to eliminate the constitutional vacuum.
Following which Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus became interim government’s Chief Adviser on August 8.
“Still, to ensure that this question never arises again, I sought the opinion of the Supreme Court,” Shahabuddin said.
In response, the apex court said that in the emerging situation, an interim government could be formed to eliminate the constitutional vacuum and facilitate smooth executive operations. It opined that the president could administer the oath to the chief adviser of the interim government and the advisory council, he said.
Law Adviser and Bangladesh Nationalist Party say president is lying
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul on Monday said that if the president claims, after months later, that Hasina did not submit a resignation letter, this would be a form of self-contradiction.
On August 5, the president himself mentioned in a speech that he had received and accepted the resignation letter of Hasina.
“It amounts to a violation of his oath because, in his speech to the nation on August 5 at 11:20 pm, flanked by the chiefs of the three armed forces, he (the president) explicitly stated that ‘Sheikh Hasina has submitted her resignation letter to me,’ and he accepted it. Afterwards, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division was consulted to seek guidance on the next steps under Article 106 of the Constitution. The then chief justice and other judges provided an opinion,” Nazrul said.
“The first line of that opinion was, ‘Since the prime minister has resigned under the current circumstances…’. Following the prime minister’s resignation and the dissolution of Parliament by the president, we sent a note from the Ministry’s office to the president, based on the opinion of the Appellate Division, regarding the formation of an interim government. The president reviewed and accepted this opinion. He then proceeded to form an interim government himself,” he said.
Hasina’s arch-rival and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said that the president lied in his address to the nation about Hasina’s resignation.
“I would say the president made this statement two months after the formation of the government with a specific agenda. The president has lied.”