Are the advisers, or a few of them of the interim government, formed on 8 August following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina by a student-mass uprising, breaching their oaths?
To have an answer, we need to understand both the context and the content of their oath they took to take over guardianship of 180 million people of Bangladesh.
Coupled with intense public anger from the past for misrule, the deaths of hundreds of people resulted in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being forced to resign on 5 August. With students and the public marching towards her residence, Ganabhaban, she had to leave the country.
The President accepted the Prime Minister’s resignation and dissolved the national parliament the next day. He then sent a reference to the Appellate Division, which, as the supreme interpreter of the constitution, provided legal validity for forming an interim government.
According to the constitution they have formed the government and taken their oath under, they cannot do that. Because their oath states that they will “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.”
The head of the constitutional reform commission, Dr Shahdeen Malik, a constitutional expert, has been replaced by political scientist Professor Dr Ali Riaz, who has been advocating rewriting the constitution.
Bangladesh does not mean just the lifetime of one generation. Remember that despite doing everything possible to stay in power for life, Sheikh Hasina could not remain in control for more than 15 years.
