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2,781 'political' cases sought to be dropped

Last date for filing applications ends

Court Correspondent
As many as 2,781 applications have been submitted to the Dhaka district magistrate for withdrawal of "political harassment and motivated" cases filed against political bigwigs including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia as the deadline to apply ended yesterday.
Meantime, State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary' Affairs Quamrul Islam said the deadline for application to withdraw the political cases would not be extended.
"We ll decide about the fate of the cases within June-July," Quamrul told The Daily Star yesterday.
"I have received 2,781 applications from different political bigwigs for withdrawal of their cases I will send the applications to the Metropolitan Public Prosecutor (MPP) soon for his opinion on the merit of the cases," Dhaka District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman told newspersons at his office yesterday.
Earlier, Hasina's lawyers submitted applications to the district magistrate for withdrawal of the cases against her. Later, MPP Abdullah Abu examined the documents of 11 cases and found that those were filed with "political motive" to "harass" her.
He also sent his opinion for withdrawal of the cases. The district committee later reviewed the opinion and sent those to the home ministry for a final decision, sources say.
Meanwhile, BNP chief Khaleda Zia, her sonsTarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko submitted applications for withdrawal of 20 cases filed against them during the last caretaker government's rule.
The applications were later sent to the MPP for his opinion, but he has yet to scrutinise the documents, PP office sources say.
Zillar also said he sent 2,000 applications to the MPP for his opinion on merit of the cases. The PP had already given opinion for withdrawal of214cases.
After receiving opinion from the PP, the district committee reviewed the opinion and sent those to the home ministry for a final decision, Zillar said.
Asked whether he received any opinion about withdrawal of cases against Khaleda, he said he did not get any opinion as only one PP cannot get enough time to review a huge number of cases in a short time.
The PP had earlier appealed for more time instead of 15 days for disposal of the applications. The application for extension of time to review the cases was sent to the government, the Dhaka DC said.
Since the government's move to review "politically motivated" cases, different political leaders started submitting applications to the district magistrates and deputy commissioners across the country.
Of the 11 cases against Hasina, eight were filed during the previous BNP-led alliance rule and the rest during the tenure of the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government. Hasina was detained for around a year by the caretaker government in connection with the cases.
Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam and his family members had earlier submitted applications to the DM for withdrawal of the cases filed against them during the caretaker rule.
A few political bigwigs including Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Deputy Leader of the House Sycda Sajeda Chowdhury, Home Minister Sahara Khatun, AL lawmakers Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Engineer Mosharraf Hossain and Kamal Ahmed Majumder and former AL lawmaker Mokbul Hossain have appealed to withdraw their cases.
Of them, AL lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim, an accused in 137 cases, had also submitted applications for withdrawing 85 cases.