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Give opposition chance to speak in Sangsad

UNDP chief also tells AL walkouts not best way to settle differences

REAZ AHMAD
The opposition should be given the chance to speak in parliament, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Dhaka Jorgen Lissner told a meeting with the government and the opposition yesterday.
The meeting, held ahead of the upcoming budget session, took stock of the latest situation against the backdrop of the main opposition Awami League's boycotting the last session of parliament in May.
Lissner apart, Chief Whip of the Jatiya Sangsad Khandaker Delwar Hossain and Chief Whip of the Opposition Abdus Shahid took part
in the meeting that lasted for over 90 minutes at the Sangsad Bhaban.
There was an elaborate discussion on a whole range of issues concerning the effective functioning of parliament, strengthening of parliamentary democracy, formation of the remaining parliamentary standing committees and further
tightening of the security system of the parliament building.
Jorgen Lissner said after the meeting that it is always good if the ruling party pays due attention to the opposition concerns.
He said the opposition should be given a 'real' chance to speak in parliament, as 57 million voters elected the public representatives to see them play an effective role in lawmaking.
The representative of the UNDP, which is providing assistance to a 10-year project titled 'Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy,' also pointed out that staging walkouts and boycotting parliament sessions were not the best way to settle differences.
"There is no alternative to dialogue. Sometimes it is difficult to agree (with each other in politics) but the two sides should be respectful to each other," commented Lissner, who is also a member of the steering committee of the 'Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy' project, launched in 1997 and scheduled to be complete by 2006.
The UNDP representative said they discussed, among other issues, ways of improving the functioning of the parliament secretariat and raising the efficiency of the support staff in parliament.
Delwar Hossain said his opposition counterpart had raised the issue of microphones of opposition MPs being switched off and complained about non-allocation of slots in the standing committees proportionately.
"One cannot speak endlessly in parliament. Besides, there is precedent of putting off microphones . On the question of proportionate sharing of chairmanship and membership of standing committees, the Awami League is demanding chairmanship of 10 committees, but it did not give us (the BNP in opposition) chairmanship of even a single committee," said Delwar Hossain.
He expressed his readiness to discuss with the opposition the possibility of bringing in amend-
ments to the Rules of Procedures of parliament as recommended by the UNDP to make room for the opposition to lead some of the important standing committees.
The chief whip, however, hoped that the main opposition that did not attend the last session of parliament would come back to the House in the upcoming budget session beginning from June 10.
He said the UNDP representative lauded the formation of 11 standing committees in the last session of parliament and expressed the hope that the remaining committees would be formed soon.
Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shahid said the UNDP representative talked about the AL's boycotting parliament sessions. "I told him that we were not given the chance to speak in parliament; even the microphone of the opposition leader was turned off and notices served by the opposition lawmakers were not entertained."
About Lissner's observations on the opposition staging repeated walkouts, Shahid said, "When the treasury bench suppressed our right to speak we did walk out to register our protest. Walking out is a permitted strategy in parliamentary practices."
Shahid asserted that if the government continues to ignore the opposition's rights and privileges in parliament, the Awami League might be forced to take 'tougher decisions.'
It transpired from yesterday's meeting that Merlin Udho, project implementation adviser of the 'Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy,' would be leaving the project later this month and a new official would take over.
The meeting discussed about taking some steps to strengthen the security system of the Sangsad Bhaban against the backdrop of recent attacks on some legislative houses around the world, including India.