Agitators will continue their agitation until they resign: Ishraq

Supporters of Ishraq Hossain are continuing their agitation until they assume their responsibilities as the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation. They have been holding sit-in programs on the streets for eight consecutive days until Thursday. In the meantime, the writ petition filed by Ishraq in the High Court to prevent him from taking oath as mayor has been dismissed. The High Court has observed that there is no other legal obstacle to Ishraq taking oath.

After this verdict, Ishraq Hossain called on the agitation to continue until the student advisors resign in a status on social media Facebook. He said,

“I tell the agitating brothers, we cannot be fooled by these radishes. The struggle will continue until we hear the news of the resignation of the two student representative advisors. They will not leave the streets, they will have to be widened.”

Earlier on Thursday, Justice Md. A High Court bench comprising Justice Akram Hossain Chowdhury and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury dismissed Ishraq's mayoral declaration writ outright. Deputy Attorney General Md. Mahfuzur Rahman and Khan Ziaur Rahman were present at the hearing for the state in the court. Lawyers Kaiser Kamal and AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon heard for Ishraq. Arguing against the writ, they said that the Election Tribunal's verdict and the EC's gazette are legally correct and implementable.

Lawyer Kaiser Kamal said, "We think that the advisor who was perhaps spinning the issue for some political motive will now respect the law and take the oath within a specified time after the writ is dismissed."

Incidentally, Awami League candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh was elected mayor in the Dhaka South City Corporation elections held on February 1, 2020. The Election Commission published the results in the form of a gazette on February 2, and Taposh took the oath and began to perform his duties.

However, BNP leader Ishraq Hossain filed a case in court on March 3, 2020, alleging irregularities and corruption in the election. After a long trial process, the Election Tribunal on March 27 of this year annulled Taposh's mayoral post and declared Ishraq the legitimate mayor. Following this, the Election Commission published a gazette on April 27 and wrote to the Ministry of Local Government to start the swearing-in process. However, Ishraq's supporters started a movement when no action was taken.

Now, according to the court's instructions, there are no more legal complications in Ishraq's way of taking oath. However, he and his supporters are continuing the movement, especially until the student advisors resign.