Former Bangladesh Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha didn’t have to cause a stir ahead of the national election, the ruling Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said.
“Former Chief Justice Sinha could have chosen not to incite an anti-government propaganda by publishing a book before the polls,” Quader told the media on Friday after inspecting progress of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Gazipur.
The road transport and bridges minister said, “It’s normal that he will publish his books. But, my question is why from a foreign soil and why ahead of the polls?”
“It could have been published a couple of months later. He could have refrained from provoking an anti-government stir,” he added.
Quader also said, “Sinha might have some heartache following him becoming a former chief justice. It was his choice to step down and now he is spreading fictitious misinformation against the government from a foreign land. If his intention is to serve the anti-government quarters’ interest, then I suppose his sense of responsibility will become questionable given he was once a chief justice.”
In his book titled “A Broken Dream: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy”, Sinha claimed that he resigned in the face of intimidation and threats by the country’s military intelligence agency, Directorate General of the Forces Intelligence (DGFI).
A DGFI spokesperson, however, refuted the claim.
“We are yet to read the book and trying to collect it. It’s better not to comment before reading it. But on behalf of the organisation, I can say it’s not our job to threaten anyone. We never do it,” Brigadier General Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqi, the director of DGFI’s Public Relation and Media Communications Division, told Bangla Tribune.