Bangladesh ministers tender apology over CJ criticism

A senior Bangladeshi cabinet minister today offered an "unconditional apology" a week after the Supreme Court ordered him to personally appear along with another minister to explain their "contemptuous comments" against the Chief Justice over the 1971 war crimes trial.
"My client has sought the court's mercy for his comments as he respects the top court, chief justice and all other justices," food minister Qamrul Islam's counsel Syed Mamun Mahbub said.
The minister's apology came a day ahead of his scheduled appearance in the dock along with liberation war affairs minister A K M Mozammel Haque, summoned by the full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

But his counsel said he submitted before the court Islam's apology in writing which also sought rescheduling of the date for his appearance as he currently was outside the country on an official tour to Malaysia.
"He will certainly be present if the court fixes a date after March 16 for appearing before it (on his return home)," Mahbub said as Haque's counsel also informed the court that he too would submit a similar plea soon.
The apex court in an unprecedented move on March 8 had summoned the two senior ministers to clarify their "contemptuous comments" for criticising chief justice Sinha over the appeal hearing of Jamaat-e-Islami leader and 1971 war crimes convict Mir Qashem.

Speaking at a discussion on March 5, Islam had called for a new bench that he said should exclude Chief Justice Sinha to hear Qashem's appeal.

Sinha's displeasure at the work of International Crimes Tribunal's investigators and prosecutors in the war crimes cases, including Qashem's, had been seen by Islam as a 'broad hint' that the accused's death penalty may not be upheld, bdnews24.Com reported.
Islam had alleged that the chief justice openly spoke in the language of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami by questioning the quality of the war crimes investigation.
Haque supplemented him at the same function saying the chief justice should not be a part of the appeal hearing process against Qashem but their comments sparked an uproar in political and judicial arenas.

"Their (two ministers) comments undermined the dignity and prestige of the Supreme Court and the chief justice's office and their unholy and contemptuous comments stunned the judges of the top court," Sinha said while passing the order summoning the two.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also today snubbed the two ministers for "embarrassing" the government by their remarks saying the government did not agree with their "private comments".