The Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday witnessed a heated debate on the issues of Tarique Rahman, a senior vice-chairman of opposition BNP and a non-party and neutral caretaker government as demanded by the party. The debate was initiated by Syeda Ashifa Ashrafi Papia, a BNP lawmaker from Chapai Nawabganj, when she demanded immediate withdrawal of a statement of Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on Tarique Rahman.
The foreign minister claimed that Tarique Rahman is not a political figure anymore, he is a fugitive. Dipu Moni also said that the Bangladesh government has already notified the British authorities and the INTERPOL that an arrest warrant has been issued against Tarique Rahman.
Taking part in the discussion on the supplementary budget in the House, Papia described Tarique Rahman as a “hero” and the government as a “coward”. She also dubbed Dipu Moni a “hybrid leader” of Awami League and said the government is destroying country’s political stability by filing false cases against Tarique.
Later, Barrister Mahbubuddin Khokon, another opposition BNP lawmaker from Noakhali echoed the contention of fellow party member Papia on Tarique Rahman saying that the senior vice-chairman of BNP who is now living in London is a great politician of the country and a genuine son of the soil.
Khokon, who also took part in the same discussion on the supplementary budget, told the House that all allegations against Tarique Rahman by the ruling party folks are utterly false and emphatically said that Tarique has “no bank accounts or any wealth anywhere outside Bangladesh.”
The BNP lawmaker said that his party’s demand for a neutral and non-party caretaker government for conducting the next general election in the country in a free, fair and credible manner has now turned into a popular demand of the masses and so the government has no choice but to accept it.
Khokon said that his party will never participate in the election if it is held under the present government as such election could not be free, fair and impartial. He reaffirmed the position of BNP in clear terms on the issue of the caretaker government and urged the ruling party to accept their long-standing demand for it immediately.
The ruling party rebuttal on both issues of Tarique Rahman and caretaker government came in a forceful manner from Suranjit Sengupta, a minister without portfolio, when he got his turn to speak for over 25 minutes on the supplementary budget. Sengupta said that about three weeks ago BNP decided to move an adjournment motion on the issue of the caretaker government in the full House but later it decided to withdraw its motion apparently thinking that it might be talked out by the parliament.
Defending the position of the present government to hold the next election under its own management, Suranjit Sengupta told the House that the nation witnessed many such elections in the past under the government of Late President Ziaur Rahman as well as his Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Referring to Tarique Rahman, he said he did politics with both his father and mother and wouldn’t like to talk much on the issue in the House. Sengupta, however, advised Tarique Rahman to surrender himself to the law-enforcement agency of Bangladesh saying that “no one is above the law.”
-With The Independent input
