2023 Imrulian political crisis

2023 Imrulian political crisis
Imruland Lords Association claimed responsibility of the attack on the Parliament of Imruland on their newspaper The Lords Observer
Date	10 June 2023 – 15 July 2023
Location	Shagorika, Imruland
Caused by	2023 presidential election
Resulted in	Attack to the Parliament of Imruland Emergency declared 3rd amendment of the Constitution of Imruland enacted President-elect Safat Zareef Hassan appointed as the Prime Minister Former President Fokhrul Sazzad convicted for sedition, separatism and conspiracy against Imruland
Parties
Government of Imruland Imruland Armed Force Imruland Lords Association
Lead figures
Showib Ahmmed Sobuj Hossain Muzahidul Islam Safat Zareef Hassan Fokhrul Sazzad Nazmul Hasan Fahim Firoz Ahmed
Casualties and losses
45 army personnel killed[citation needed] No casualties

The 2023 Imrulian political crisis began after publication of the results of the presidential election. The losing candidate MD Nazmul Hasan Fahim and his supporters boycotted the election result despite congratulating the winning candidate. The supporters of Fahim, led by former President Fokhrul Sazzad, attacked the Parliament of Imruland. A state of emergency for an indefinite period was declared and all supporters of Fahim and Sazzad were exiled including them.

Background

Main article: 2023 Imrulian presidential election

The term of President Fokhrul Sazzad ended on 24 May 2023. Chief Advisor Showib Ahmmed was appointed as President according to the Constitution of Imruland to arrange the second presidential election. The election was held on 10 June 2023. Education and Information Minister Safat Zareef Hassan won the election defeating Health Minister MD Nazmul Hasan Fahim by 5 votes. Fahim congratulated Hassan on his winning but later he boycotted the result. The supporters of Fahim protested to publish the correct result. At one point of the protest, they attacked the Parliament of Imruland with heavy weapons.

Protests

After the publication of the results, everyone welcomed it including Nazmul Hasan Fahim, Fokhrul Sazzad, Firoz Ahmed, and all other supporters of the losing candidate. But at one point, Fahim accused the government led by President Showib Ahmmed of massive rigging in the election. They boycotted the result and called for publishing the correct results. Ahmmed responded by denying the allegations of rigging stating that there were no reasons to rig as the government and the election commission was very neutral. The protestors led by Fahim and Sazzad rejected the statement and attacked the parliament house.

Attack

2023 attack on the Parliament of Imruland
Part of 2023 Imrulian political crisis
Imruland Lords Association claimed responsibility of the attack on their newspaper The Lords Observer
Location	Parliament of Imruland
Date	10 June 2023
Target	Members of the Parliament of Imruland
Weapons	Steel scale, lattice cane, branch of Mandarin tree
Deaths	45 (fictional)
Perpetrators	Imruland Lords Association
Assailants	Fokhrul Sazzad and other members of the Imruland Lords Association
No. of participants	30+
Defenders	Imruland Armed Force
Motive	Cancelation of the results of the presidential election
Convicted	1
Verdict	Guilty
Convictions	Public execution by hanging
Charges	Sedition, separatism and conspiracy against Imruland

The protestors, led by foremr President Fokhrul Sazzad and Nazmul Hasan Fahim, attacked the Parliament of Imruland at 11.00pm. The attack was carried out with heavy weapons such as steel scale, lattice cane, branch of Mandarin tree etc. Imruland Lords Association claimed responsibility of the attack in a Facebook post. Their claim was also published on their newspaper The Lords Observer. 45 members of the Imruland Armed Force were killed according to their claim. No members of the Parliament of Imruland were injured or dead. The attackers threatened to attack President Showib Ahmmed, President-elect Safat Zareef Hassan, Election Commissioner Tanha Shafiq Bhuiyan, and other government officials. President Showib Ahmmed declared a state of emergency in response to the attack and the power handover to the President-elect was postponed for an indefinite period.

Aftermath

President Showib Ahmmed resigned at midnight after the brutal attack on the Parliament of Imruland. After his resignation, Vice President Sobuj Hossain, Speaker Muzahidul Islam, Chief Justice Sharif Al Sadiq, Education Minister and President-elect Safat Zareef Hassan, and many other cabinet members resigned simultaneously. Showib Ahmmed resigned before making anyone as his successor. There was no one to inherit the presidency. Cabinet minister Sheikh Mizan proclaimed himself as the acting President of Imruland and took charge of Imruland government at 2 am. He dismissed everyone of the government after assuming the post of president. He also ordered to arrest the presidential candidate Nazmul Hasan Fahim. He ordered everyone to refrain including Fokhrul Sazzad from insulting the ruler. He appointed Fokhrul Sazzad as the Speaker of the Parliament of Imruland after bringing Akiz Bidi for him. He gave Sazzad the title of Gopal Bhar after calling Sheikh Mizan's presidency as pranking and dismissed from the post of Speaker. Showib Ahmmed returned to parliament the next day on the request of self-proclaimed president Sheikh Mizan. He again took charge of president and exiled all members of the Imruland Lords Association. All other members who were resigned the previous night also returned to their respective posts.

Amendemnt of Constitution

The Constitution of Imruland was amended for the third time on 14 July 2023. It was passed on the Parliament of Imruland and took effective the next day. The amendment made a huge change in the Imruland regime. The amendment was passed just after withdrawing the state of emergency. The title of the national anthem was changed from Prithibir Majhe Sera to Amader Imruland. Islam was recognized as the state religion and secularism was excluded from the four principles of Imruland. The posts of President and Vice President were removed and the title of Chief Advisor to the King was changed to Governor. A new type of government headed by the Prime Minister was introduced and direct election system was cancelled. Appointment by the Constitution Drafting Committee rules were made instead of direct election of Prime Minister. The age limit for the speaker of the parliament and the cabinet ministers was cancelled. The Republic Kingdom of Imruland was transformed to the Kingdom of Imruland.

Power handover

The power was transferred to the elected President Safat Zareef Hassan after two weeks of the amendment of the constitution. Zareef was appointed as the Prime Minister of Imruland by King Imrul I on 28 July 2023 as the post of President was abolished. Zareef completed his full term of 145 days as prime minister and served until 19 December 2023

Trial

A case was filed against Fokhrul Sazzad in the Supreme Court for sedition, separatism and conspiracy against the country on 17 March 2024. The Supreme Court of Imruland found Fokhrul Sazzad guilty of trying to create instability on the night of the second presidential election results on June 10 and banned him from participating in all elections. He was also banned from entering Imruland. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sheikh Mizan gave this verdict after a few days of hearing on 26 March 2024. He was given this punishment on several charges including deliberately creating an unstable situation in the state. The court canceled all protocols of Fokhrul Sazzad as a former president. In another case of attacking the Parliament of Imruland, the Supreme Court sentenced him to death by public hanging. As he is absconding, the verdict has not been executed yet.

Later improvements

The government of Imruland sent a proposal to the Imruland Lords Association (ILA) on 14 June 2024 to end the division between the two groups. Special Convoy of Imruland government to the ILA Mahitul Islam Leone and Member of Parliament Jubayar Al Mahamud delivered the proposal to the ILA. According to the proposal, Imruland would be divided into two provinces. Both provinces would have provincial governments to administer governance that would be completely independent from the central government. A prime minister would be elected through a joint election, who would be the leading figure in both provinces. How much power he will have would be determined through negotiation. Besides, a central parliament would be formed by all the members of the two provincial parliaments. A majority in the central parliament would be required to amend the constitution and change central laws. A combined judiciary would be created, headed by a Chief Justice who would be the chief interpreter of laws and constitutions. Whether the Chief Justice would be elected by the Prime Minister or by the Parliament would be clearly mentioned in the Constitution. The negotiation discussion had failed, as the association demanded conditions deemed impossible for negotiation. ILA demanded the resignation of Governor Showib Ahmed and the abolition of the monarchy in Imruland. They also called for the deportation of Deputy Prime Minister Safat Zareef Hassan, Chief Justice Sheikh Mizan, former Prime Minister Ishtiak Mahfuz Abdullah, and other leading figures of Imruland. Governor Showib Ahmmed described their demands as “unrealistic and illusory imagination.” Parliament members also condemned the demands, stating that negotiating with a group banned by a Supreme Court verdict was unnecessary.

See also

• 2022 Imrulian political crisis