The Speaker, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, said on Saturday that there was still scope for a dialogue on how to hold the upcoming general election, despite the main Opposition BNP’s withdrawal of the adjournment motion in Parliament. “The Parliament session will continue for a few more days after the budget session. But there will be limited scope for discussing the Opposition’s proposal during the budget discussion. The Opposition will be given opportunity for discussion on any issue if they want”, the Speaker told reporters after attending a function on “Gender Mainstreaming in Bangladesh Parliament”, held at a city hotel.
The Speaker’s comment came a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the BNP had forfeited all options for discussion on the caretaker government (CG) system by withdrawing the adjournment motion.
The new Speaker iterated the importance of giving ample scope to the Opposition for discussing any issue of public importance in Parliament.
Dr Chaudhury, Bangladesh’s first ever woman Speaker, has been suggesting negotiations between the two major political parties to end the current political crisis on the CG issue since she took charge last month.
The BNP withdrew the motion for revival of the CG system when the 18th session of the ninth Parliament started on Monday. Lawmaker AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon had placed the motion before the Parliament Secretariat on May 22.
The motion was submitted for discussion under Section 62 of the Rules of Procedures of Parliament, with the statement that the CG system should be restored for the sake of a free and credible election.
Speaking on “Gender Mainstreaming in Bangladesh Parliament”, Shirin dismissed allegations that BNP lawmakers were not allowed to speak in the House. “There is no way you can be partial when you sit in the Speaker’s chair,” she said.
BNP lawmakers walked out thrice since returning to Parliament on June 3 after staying away for 83 days. On Wednesday, they blamed the walkout on inadequate opportunity to speak up.
The Speaker said: “There was confusion about a certain rule. I told the Opposition lawmaker to formulate her point of order. There’s no discrimination against them”.
On June 5, BNP lawmaker Syeda Ashifa Ashrafi Papia, standing on the point of order, sought the microphone to speak, whereupon the Speaker asked her to formulate the point of order and clarify on which section of the rules of procedure she wanted to speak.
At first, Papia said Rule 38 and then Rule 301. Taking the microphone, the BNP lawmaker said she wanted to speak about a matter regarding the foreign minister that had been published in the newspaper.
“In a statement published in the newspaper, the foreign minister said that Tarique Rahman was a fugitive and not a political figure of the country, and that he wanted to bring Tarique back through Interpol”, she said.
When the Speaker said that this was not a point of order at all, Papia said that this was definitely a point of order as the comment appeared in the newspaper.
“Please go through the rules of procedure and submit a notice if you wanted to speak on this issue in the House”, the Speaker told the BNP lawmaker.
When Papia insisted that she be permitted to speak on the matter, the Speaker switched off her microphone, which made the Opposition lawmakers stage a walkout, led by Moudud Ahmad.
-With The Independent input
