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Fresh invective adds fuel to JS stand-off

REAZ AHMAD and SHAKHAWAT LITON
Uncertainty looms large over the prospect of an early solution to the parliamentary stand-off over recurrence of invective against the Leader of the Opposition even after the Chair expunged all unparliamentary words from the proceedings Thursday.
The crisis that the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) faced after State Minister for Housing Alamgir Kabir's alleged aspersion on Awami League President Sheikh Hasina last Wednesday, were defused to some extent following expunction of 'the offensive, indecent, libellous and unparliamentary words' by Deputy Speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui.
But the stalemate dropped several notches the following day when the prime minister's Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Salauddin Quader Chowdhury uttered fresh invective against Hasina as well as Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The moment the deputy speaker
showed a good gesture by expunging the derogatory words amid the AL demands for expunction of the state minister's comments and an apology from him, Chowdhury's comments further pushed away the possibility of an early rapprochement with the opposition.
"After the deputy speaker expunged the unparliamentary words, what did we hear from Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in the presence of the prime minister in the House (on Thursday night)? His budget discussion was full of indecent words," Awami League
General Secretary Abdul Jalil told The Daily Star last night.
Jalil also hinted that the AL would demand that the Speaker expunge Chowdhury's remarks too. Jalil also reiterated his party demand for an apology from the state minister for making derogatory remarks against Hasina.
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed said that there was no point in apologising, as the derogatory
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words had already been expunged. "It's not logical to boycott parliament for such a demand. We'll try to bring them (AL lawmakers) back to the House."
BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told BBC Radio last night that the demand for an apology from the state minister is pointless, when the Chair had already expunged his remarks from the proceedings.
Following last Wednesday's walkout from the parliament over Alamgir Kabir's alleged aspersion on the Opposition Leader, the AL decided on Thursday that the party lawmakers would not return to parliament until the state minister apologised and the speaker expunged his remarks and upheld relevant rules in running the House.
The deputy speaker, however, told reporters that of the three demands put forward to him by AL in a memorandum Thursday night, two had already been taken care of. He said he had already expunged the unparliamentary words from the proceedings and was running the House in line with the Rules of Procedure. On the demand for apology, he said the government should deal with the matter.
With the eighth parliament into its eighth session now, both the ruling and the opposition camps are appearing to fail time and again in making the House vibrant and effective.
Sources in the major political parties found it depressing that the Jatiya Sangsad often loses its liveliness and the atmosphere of debates on national issues remains missing, as the House runs, with the main opposition preferring to be off.
Both the BNP and the AL often blame each other for parliament not being effective and failing to live up to people's expectations.
Sources in the political parties said the ruling alliance showed less interest in making the parliament more functional by not appointing a deputy leader of the
House even after 20 months into the eighth parliament and by not forming the majority of parliamentary standing committees to date.
On the other hand, the sources said, the main opposition party is also missing out on many workdays of various sessions, reasoning out that their lawmakers are not allowed to speak in the House.
And yet another spell of parliament boycott by the AL since Thursday last and the government's apparent indifference once again put the effectiveness of parliament into question.
The renewed boycott cast a shadow on the prospect of budget passage in full House. This time around, the second budget of the Khaleda's coalition government looks set to see its passage with the seats of the main opposition party vacant.
Following the last elections on October 1, 2001, the eighth parliament began its journey on October 28 in 2001 amid the absence of the AL. After 70 workdays, the AL joined the House on June 24 in 2002 during the first budget session of this parliament.
Earlier, the budget for the fiscal 2002-2003 was proposed before the House on June 6, with the AL keeping off the House.
After joining the House during the first budget session or the third session of the eighth parliament, AL deputies attended it for five of the 24 workdays.
They boycotted the budget discussion protesting the switching-off of the party lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim's microphone in parliament by the Chair. In the absence of the main opposition lawmakers, the budget was passed on June 29 last year.
The House resumed its session on July 7 last year and AL lawmakers returned. On July 11 last year, AL lawmakers walked out of the House protesting that they were not provided time to speak.
As an opposition lawmaker Shawkat Ali was arrested