Hasnat and Sarjis Drop Article Against Political Parties | Petitions against AL, 10 parties withdrawn

Three leaders of the Student Anti-Discrimination Movement yesterday withdrew two writ petitions filed against the Awami League and 10 other political parties and the last three general elections.

Their lawyer Ahsanul Karim withdrew the petitions filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.

He told the HC bench comprising Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmdur that his clients would not proceed with the petitions.

The board later rejected the petitions as “unprinted,” meaning the petitions were not properly filed.

However, the lawyer did not explain the reasons for the withdrawal.

“My clients have instructed me not to proceed with the petitions before the court. I do not know the reason behind the decision,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.

On Monday, the organizer of the movement, Abul Hasnat aka Hasnat Abdullah; Sarjis Alam, one of its key coordinators and currently general secretary of the July Martyrs Memorial Foundation; and deputy coordinator Hasibul Islam submitted two separate petitions through their lawyers.

One sought rules that would ban all political activities of the AL and 10 other parties and ban them from all future elections.

It also sought a rule to declare parties “terrorist organizations intent on indiscriminately killing citizens, destroying democratic institutions, and unconstitutionally seizing state power.”

The other petition sought a rule to annul the results of three national elections held in 2014, 2018 and 2024 under the AL government.

It was stated that these surveys were conducted without legal authority and were not legally accepted.

The petition also sought a rule asking why MPs elected from these 11 parties in three elections would not face sedition charges, as well as directives from the HC to cancel the benefits MPs received from the government, including conspiracy and duty-free vehicles.

This newspaper could not reach Sarjis and Hasnat for comment.

Hasibul Islam told The Daily Star: “The petitions have been withdrawn but legal proceedings will be initiated in the future after the petitions are issued.

“The political activities of political parties that sided with the Awami League during the student movement will be blocked.”

Two other senior leaders of the movement, who preferred to remain anonymous, mentioned two reasons behind the withdrawal of the petitions.

They said that one of the reasons for this was that the petitions were submitted without consulting other leaders of the movement, and the other was that some of the political parties against which the petitions were filed actually sided with the students during the movement.

Other parties other than AL are Jatiya Party (Ershad); Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD); Bikalpadhara Bangladesh; Sect Federation; Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB); Liberal Democratic Party (LDP); Jatiya Party (Manju); Ganatantri Dal; Marxist-Leninist (Barua); and Bangladesh Socialist Party.

While JSD was named in the petition, the address of the JSD office led by ASM Abdur Rab was written, while “Marxist-Leninist (Barua)” did not have an office address and no registered political party had this name.

The petitions also did not include the office address of the Bangladesh Socialist Party. Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BASAD) uses “Bangladesh Socialist Party” as its English name.

Of the parties, LDP, CPB, BASAD, and Rab-led JSD have long campaigned against the AL government and sided with students during the quota reform movement, so their inclusion in the petitions angered many.

One of the leaders told The Daily Star yesterday, “Hasnat and Sarjis submitted the written petitions without a final meeting with us. After the petitions were submitted, we held a meeting and in the face of criticism, the decision was made to withdraw.” he said.