June 29, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 28,1424

DHAKA, June 28: The government of Begum Khaleda Zia has reportedly relieved some 62,000 people of criminal charges on political consideration. Of them, some 10,000 were relieved on the basis of recommendations from leaders of the ruling coalition during the last seven months, a Dhaka-based English language daily, New Age, reported on Saturday.

While making written recommendation for discharges, the leaders of the BNP-led alliance claimed that the accused were victims of political vengeance meted out by the previous regime of Sheikh Hasina.

The present government formed a five-member committee in Nov 2001, headed by the local deputy commissioner, each in all the 64 districts to ascertain whether the criminal cases filed against the activists-supporters of the BNP-led four-party alliance during the period between July 1, 1996 and September 30, 2001 were politically motivated. These committees recommended that some 52,000 accused be exonerated of criminal charges lodged during the Awami League era.

The cases of murder, rape, arson and possession of illegal arms were kept out of the jurisdictional review of the DC-led committees.

Then the government formed, in December 2001, a judicial commission headed by a retired High Court Judge to review these four categories of cases lodged during the AL era. The Judicial Commission had received over 100 cases for review. The Commission found the accused in three cases, out of more than 100, worthy of steering clear of the charges.

Later, on January 19, 2002, the government issued another letter to the DCs asking them to make a review of the cases, “irrespective of their nature”, which were related to hartal, processions and public rallies.

“But the message the new orders carried for the DCs was that they were now also to review the rape, murder, arson and illegal arms cases, if the accused were political activists involved in anti-government agitation,” New Age wrote. Subsequently, many of the 52,000 accused were relieved of criminal charges on recommendations of the committees.

Still, there were several thousand to be exonerated from criminal charges.

This time the ruling BNP Secretary General, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, sent a letter, in October 2002, to the ministers in charge of districts, party MPs, and thana BNP presidents, asking them to make sure that the party activists not yet relieved of charges like rape, murder, arson and illegal holding of arms.