BNP won’t join for lack of democratic atmosphere: Khandaker Delwar

Parliament session resumes tomorrow
BNP won’t join for lack of democratic atmosphere: Khandaker Delwar
BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain has said the opposition party will not join the parliament session which will resume on Sunday as the democratic atmosphere in the house is yet to be ensured.
He made the this assertion while talking to reporters at his Armanitola residence in the capital on Friday.
Khandaker Delwar Hossain said the ruling party is seeking participation of opposition in the parliament but harassing its leaders through lodging cases and framing charge sheets. Not a single case lodged during the immediate past caretaker government has been withdrawn yet but their (government) leaders are being freed from different corruption charges lodged during the same period. Is it congenial atmosphere for taking part in the parliament session? If the government wants the participation of opposition in the parliament it should create a democratic environment in the house on the basis of consensus.
He said BNP’s law makers including opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia are eagerly waiting for joining the parliament session. And our chairperson is still making offers to the government to work together for the betterment of the countrymen. Basically, the government does not want the participation of opposition in the parliament and so launching oppressions and repressions on BNP leaders. An Act for withdrawing cases which were lodged in the past caretaker government has been passed but the cases of BNP leaders including Chairperson Begum Khaledda Zia and her sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman are not being withdrawn.
Delwar said the government could not meet the demands of common people in its nine-month administration. The government’s performance inside the parliament as well as throughout the country has failed to gain public acceptances. In order to establish unilateral political supremacy in the country and ensure state power for long, the ruling party wants to go back to the constitution introduced in 1972 for restoration of BAKSAL.
As part of the evil design, on the basis of brute majority, the government is planning to amend country’s constitution. If the government wants to amend the constitution, it should be on the basis of consensus through holding discussions with all political parties in the parliament session. Otherwise, the countrymen will be united under the banner of nationalist forces and go for movement, he cautioned.
UNB adds: The adjourned third session of 9th parliament resumes at 4 pm on Sunday after 18 days of recess for Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja vacations.
The third session, which began on September 7, was adjourned on September 15 ahead of the twin vacation.
Main opposition BNP has been boycotting parliament for long with a number of demands and on various grounds, mainly for increasing the number of their seats in the front row of the House.

Courtesy of The BD Today