Expressing profound sorrow for the 'events of November 30' on the Supreme Court premises and all that led up to them, they said," We unreservedly condemn any acts of violence resulting from the outburst of emotions of that day. Such violence must never be seen again."

In a joint statement, they demanded that those responsible for the November 30 events must be identified through an open and impartial inquiry and brought to book. "We have a shared responsibility to the nation and to our future generations to preserve and pass on a glorious heritage, and not to damage it by seeing it in the context of a partisan contest in which some may inflict damage on others and claim victory," they said.

Dr Kamal, an architect of the country's constitution, Amir, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and Rokan, vice chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council, urged the judges and lawyers to recognise that there are moments in their life and that of the nation when they need to rise above personal differences and concerns.

"Without any doubt, we all cherish the supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, " they said.

"This is the heritage built up over many decades, which surely is our sacred duty to protect. We will have failed to discharge this duty if we do not act together without delay to move away from the path of partisan confrontation," the joint statement said.

"If our institutions are damaged and values are lost, we all will be losers, and history will judge us harshly," the renowned jurists observed.

At the same time, the judges and lawyers must unitedly take an initiative to objectively diagnose and identify the causes of the malaise that has afflicted the functioning and practice of the Supreme Court, they suggested.

They went on, "May we not appeal to and count upon the former chief justices to guide us towards adopting timely corrective measures, after conducting an in-depth inquiry among both judges and lawyers, in order to arrive at a true diagnosis of the prevailing situation?"

The inquiry would need to consider acts and omissions about which serious concern has been felt and expressed for some considerable time but ignored, the jurists added.

They questioned if the judges and lawyers are paying the price for failing to take timely corrective action, and instead allowing the virus of partisanship to infect our decisions.

"Can we not appeal that the inquiry should identify the reasons behind actions taken departing from established practices and precedents, bearing in mind that our judicial and legal heritage has been built upon respect for precedents and past practice?

"Should this not lead us to ask why a series of unprecedented actions have led to serious grievances, some of which are the subject matter of pending writs?" the three legal experts questioned.

They said these include wholesale non-confirmation of judges and wholesale appointments without effective consultation, to the extent that six appointments are reported to be of persons who had never practised in the Supreme Court, and one of a person whose qualifications raised serious questions.

Promises of corrective action remain unfulfilled and the mode of abruptly withdrawing powers from a bench and assigning cases to particular benches have been unprecedented, they said. The exercise of this power in several cases is perceived as striking at the root of the independence of the judiciary, as was the case of the 'stay' of a hearing before a rule was issued. "All these called for urgent corrective action," they noted.

"Let us strive together to shun the path of divisiveness and confrontation, correct mistakes and affirm our resolve to work together so that our Supreme Court can discharge its constitutional duty to do justice, without fear or favour," said the statement by the eminent lawyers.