Staff correspondent
The lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led opposition on Wednesday continued abstaining from the parliamentary sessions.
‘We have kept the decision whether to return to the house pending till 4:00pm on February 9,’ senior opposition lawmaker and BNP’s vice-chairman, MK Anwar, told reporters after a meeting with the speaker, Abdul Hamid, on Wednesday evening.
When asked about the possibility of their return to the parliament, he said they have kept the decision pending until the speaker makes a positive decision to return their front-row seats.
‘We want to return to the House. But the speaker should make a decision,’ he said. ‘We will join the House as soon as he makes a positive decision’.
‘We want to help the government in making decisions on many issues including the proposal of Awami Leader Abdul Jalil who has sought parliamentary investigation of the activities of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence,’ he said. ‘The House can consider either constitutional or legal measures.’
The opposition lawmakers did not return to the parliament after staging a walk-out on January 28 in protest against the new seating arrangement which gave the opposition eight instead of 21 seats in the first two rows to the left of the speaker. So far there have been seven sessions on January 25, 28, 29 and February 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Speaker Abdul Hamid told reporters on Wednesday evening that he had assured the opposition that he would re-arrange the seats in the parliament before the next session. ‘I told them that I need to go through a process to re-arrange the seats in the House,’ he said.
The speaker changed Jamiruddin Sircar’s seating arrangement which gave the main opposition lawmakers nine seats in the front row and 12 in the second row to the left of the chair, ignoring the treasury bench’s proposal.
In the 2001 parliament, when BNP was in power, all 10 seats — eight for Awami League and two for Jatiya Party factions — in the front row to the left of the speaker were allocated to opposition lawmakers.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
