Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Shafique Ahmed on Monday told Parliament that the trial of the top war crimes suspects would be completed within shortest possible time and the verdicts would also be executed at the earliest. The Law Minister made this comment while replying to a question from ruling party lawmaker M Monirul Islam of Barisal-2 constituency during question-answer session.
“The government has taken all necessary steps to complete the trial of war criminals. There is no scope for the government to interfere in the trial process. The judiciary is fully independent,” he said.
The Law Minister also made it clear that the completion of the trial does not depend on the government’s desire.
He mentioned that the International Crimes Tribunals (ICTs) and Appellate Division of the Supreme Court have already delivered a number of verdicts on war crimes accused maintaining international standards.
Replying to a question from treasury bench member Golam Dastagir Gazi, Shafique Ahmed said a total of 31,16,095 cases were disposed of by higher and lower courts across the country during the present government’s tenure.
During the period, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court disposed of 10,671 cases, the High Court 1,35,071 cases and the lower courts 29,70,353 cases, he informed the House.
Replying to another question from ruling party MP Fazilatun Nesa Bappi, the Minister said the government has taken various measures, including displaying citizen charters, to create public awareness about land registration fees, tax and other important information.
Besides, he said, an initiative is underway to introduce computerised land registration system to ensure modernisation, better service, accountability and transparency.
Responding to another question from Begum Sultana Bulbul of Women Seat-34, he said there are 188 buildings for sub-registrar offices across the country. Replying to another question from Sadhana Halder, he informed the House that the government provided about Taka 1 crore 30 lakh 73 thousand as legal aid support to insolvent justice seekers in 2012-2013 fiscal.
The government has also allocated Taka one crore to provide financial support to insolvent justice seekers, he said.
-With The Independent input
