Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed accused the Bar Council leaders of transforming the council into a politically biased organisation. He was addressing a meeting organised by the Parishad yesterday.

He interpreted the boycott call as a contempt of court and disregard for the judges and litigants.

He called the Bangladesh Bar Council leaders pro-Awami League (AL) and accused them of contempt of court since 1974 when they amended the constitution.

The minister, who is also a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said the majority of the lawyers do not support the boycott call. "They (Bar Council leaders) are doing this for political gains. Apart from political gains, they are hatching a conspiracy to put the judicial system in jeopardy," he said.

Moudud also blamed the AL for not separating the judiciary from the executive. The four-party alliance government will ensure the separation of the judiciary, he added.

He called upon the lawyers to uphold the sanctity of their profession and attend court on August 6 ignoring the boycott call.

"We will boycott the 'boycott call' peacefully and resist any move to create anarchy on the sacred court premises," he said.

Communications Minister Nazmul Huda, who presided over the meeting, said the vested quarters defeated in the last election have long been trying to turn this non-issue into an issue for making political gains.

"We will maintain the sanctity of our profession by any means," said Huda.

They are launching such agitational programmes to prove that the government has failed and are also creating problems in the transport sector by calling strikes, he added.

Minister for Post and Telecommunications Aminul Haque said it has been proved that the AL does not have the capacity to run the government, so it has chosen the path of anarchy and unrest.

He called upon the lawyers to resist the undemocratic court boycott unanimously.

State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shahjahan Omar urged the lawyers to reject the boycott call.

"We don't care about the boycott call ... nothing shall go unchallenged, we will defeat them without any fight," he added.

Former minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Barrister Ziaur Rahman Khan, Barrister Abdur Razzak and Kazi Feroz Rashid also addressed the meeting organised at the south hall of the Supreme Court Lawyers Association.

The Parishad in a resolution hailed Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for her decision to exempt lawyers from submission of compulsory income tax return.

It called upon the leaders of the Bar Council to withdraw the boycott programme as the programme has become 'irrelevant' following the announcement by the prime minister.

The resolution demanded restructuring of the Bar Council to give it a neutral and truly representative character.