High Court injunction on operation of new Press Club executive committee for six months

The High Court has slapped a six-month ban on the new executive committee of the National Press Club, which was formed three months ago based on a ‘compromise’ without election.

Syed Abdal Ahmad, general secretary of the expired committee, took out the injunction against the new committee.

Awami League-backed Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman was made president and BNP-backed Kamrul Islam Chowdhury the general secretary on May 28.

Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader on Thursday heard the plea and put the ban on the executive committee’s operation.

Several BNP-affiliated journalists claim the previous committee is still legal and that the new one has been constituted illegally.

But the new committee has journalists affiliated to both the ruling Awami League, the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

“The court has also issued a ruling,” plaintiff’s lawyer Salehuddin told bdnews24.com. “We’ll be able to divulge details once we get a copy of the court order.”

The court asked why the committee’s activities should not be declared illegal since it was formed without an election. The defendants were asked to reply to it within four weeks.

Kamal Uddin Sabuj and Ahmad-led committee’s tenure expired on Dec 31 last year but there were complexities over voting.

On May 28, two groups supported by the Awami League and the BNP constituted an executive committee based on ‘compromise’.

The 17-strong committee has seven BNP-affiliated journalists, who were later ‘expelled’ from a forum led by Shawkat Mahmud, chief of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists.

Mahmud, also a former Press Club president, is on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s advisory panel.

The BNP-backed faction has rejected the new committee and has been held protest programmes.

 

Initiators of the new committee, on the other hand, allege that Mahmud-led forum is using the Press Club as a ‘political office’.