Shutdown call by BNP

Judiciary politicised after amendment to impeach judges

A day after the hartal enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami, the 20-party alliance led by Khaleda Zia called national shutdown on Monday protesting against the empowering of Parliament to remove Supreme Court judges on grounds of incompetence or misconduct.

BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami had enforced a nationwide 24-hour hartal on Thursday and on Sunday in protest against its leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s life-in-prison sentence for war crimes.

Announcing the 20-party alliance’s

hartal , BNP Spokesman Mirza Fakhrul islam Alamgir said the 16th amendment to the Constitution, through which Parliament was authorised to remove judges, was the “ultimate politicisation of the judiciary”. “This will create a permanent fear of justice being denied,” the BNP spokesperson said.