A threat to resign from parliament by the opposition leader, for mation of special committees, walkouts and the usual bouts that go with democracy as well as repeated calls and vows for strengthening the parliament to reflect people's hopes and aspirations featured the year s parliamentary proceedings.
Even In the 12th session of Jatiya Sangsad that ended on December 8. Leader of the House Khaleda Zia expressed the hope that the parliament in future would be more lively, more effective. It would play a more significant role in addressing national problems.' she thought and added, that the people have a lot of expectations pinned on this parliament and the parliament should not fall to fulfil these.
The Prime Minister has to prove that it is not mere lip-service to the Cause for a better parliament. The bill providing for the establishment of an independent parliament secretariat to render the parliament effective has been lying long with the law minister. Not much has been done to get the bill passed.
An independent parliament secretariat will not just meet the requirements of the parliament. it Is a constitutional obligation for the government to establish one as article 79 (1) of the Constitution spells out that "Parliament shall have Its own secretariat."
The bill was brought by Chief Whip Khandkar Delwar Hossain of the ruling party in 1992. It was sent to the Law Ministry for approval and got stuck there. Since then in every session when the opposition presses the issue, it is said that this bill will be readied for the next session. The law minister gave the same assurance even in the last session that the bill would come to the House in the first week of the next session. But to no avail.
The fifth national parliament of Bangladesh has many significant characteristics.’Firstly, this parliament was formed through an election rated as the most impartial hustings the country has ever seen. No election In the country had been held under a caretaker government prior to this. The composition of the parliament is significant too. No parliament in the past has seen such a strong opposition. Another significant point is that the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition are both women. The parliament unanimously passed the Twelfth Constitution Amendment Bill restoring the parliamentary form of government.
The fifth parliament has set a record in its duration as compared to previous parliaments. The 12 session of this partial ment ended on December 8 after transacting business for 12 days. Till now the fifth parliament has had a total of 297 working days spread over 12 sessions. In 1993 alone this parliament held five sessions
while no other parliament could meet for more than eight sessions. The second parliament, however, had 206 working days
The first session of 1993. the eighth of the parliament, began on January 3. It is traditional In the parliament of Bangladesh that the president inaugurates the first session of the year The first session of parliament in 1993 was addressed by Presi dent Abdur Rahman Biswas but major opposition parties Awami League and Jatiya Party were absent from the House.
JP boycotted the House on the ground that the party leaders and workers were being oppressed by the government AL did not make It clear why it staged the boycott but later at a press briefing party leaders stated that they boycotted the House as they knew that the president would dwell on the successes of BNP rather than the problems and crisis of the country. AL s reservations concerning the president are not a secret.
The most Important discussion of the session was held on the demolition of the Babri Mosque by Hindu zealots In In1 dia. After four days of discussion the House adopted a resolution on January 20 condemning the destruction of the 16th century mosque and demanding that it be rebuilt and communal harmony restored there. During this session, parliament also discussed the January 24 gunbattle between two factions at an AL meeting In Chittagong, the Mtrpur by-election, terrorism in Rajshahi University and the fate of the parliamentary secretariat bill. An untoward incident also occurred during this session when a group of irate .members led by opposition Chief Whip Mohammad Nasim (AL) rushed angrily towards the •Deputy Speaker at his dais.
The first session of the year ended on March 11 completing
207 working days of the ftHh parliament Though this session was of 32 working day> the discussions were hardly con Crete. No decision was made in the parliament that would con tribute in anyway to the welfare of the people.
The second session of 1993. the fifth parliament s ninth, began on May 9 and ended on May 13. lasting only for five days. Only the Farakka issue was discussed. This session was held simply to meet constitutional requirements as the Twelfth Constitution Amendment made it obligatory for the parliament to go into a session within 60 days.
The most Important session of 1993 was its third, the fifth parliament's tenth. This was the budget session. It began on June 6 and ended July 15. having 31 working days. A lot of work was done in this session and valuable time of the House was not wasted in idle debate. The budget was passed within the specified time which was quite a record as the budget is hardly ever passed within the stipulated time. A total of 246 members discussed the budgetary proposals.
Other important topics like the flood and relief programme In Greater Sylhet was also discussed. Alongside these routine discussions, certain topics sprouted up and proved to be considerably significant. The ministers' accountability to the parliament was made clear. On June 24 AL member Mirza Azam accused Minister for Local Government Salam Talukdar of permitting Irregularities and corruption In Jamalpur. Heated argument ensued over the issue.
On Jurje 26 Tofael Ahmed of AL brought allegations of corruption agalhst Minister for Agriculture. Flood Control. Irrigation and Water Development Majklul Haque. He made the
accusations during general discussions on the budget. As the minister challenged Tofael io offer proof of his corruption. Tofael accepted the challenge con- • fidentty
On. July 6 the Speaker formed a 15-member committee to investigate the corruption 'charges against the minister. Though the committee was formed. till date it has not been able to reach a decision concerning Its terms of reference. The committee submitted a primary report during the twelfth session of parliament which, in a nutshell, stated that the committee has come to a standstill over the terms of reference So it seems as If the committee is to remain Ineffective which will certainly invite the opposition s criticism of the government.
Another constitutional question gave rise to a lively debate In the House during the tenth session. Sudhangshu Shekhar Haidar of AL initiated the debate on the very first day of the session. Though the House stated that the Speaker would give a ruling on the duties of head of the state while President Abdur Rahman Biswas was abroad, he eventually did nbl make any such ruling
Interestingly, during this session the leader of the opposition was away from the country and the leader of the House hardly turned up in parliament. But with the two deputy leaders of the respective sides the session ran excellently and the absence of the leaders was hardly felt. This certainly brought discredit to the leaders.
The eleventh session was neither long nor noteworthy. It began on September II and was prorogued on September 26. having had 12 working days. On the first day of the session demands were placed for future general elections lo be held under a caretaker gov
Violence having taken place tn various universities of the country during this session led to heated debate tn the parliament. At one stage members of both the Opposition and Treasury Bench demanded a ban on Jamaat-Shibir politics They accused Jamaat of resorting to terrorism and promoting communal politics in the country.
Jute, poverty alleviation, a constitutional provision and other issues were discussed In the House The government was accused of violating the Constitution by having a large number of non MPs in the Cabinet. The Constitution has a provision that non-MPs cannot constitute more than one tenth of the Cabinet. But AL member Sudhangshu Shekhar Haidar pointed out thal this provision was violated between September 11 and September 13 as the Industries Minister of that time Shamsul Islam resigned bringing the number of ministers to 39 The number of ministers who were not members of parliament stood at four.
However, on September 13 three members of parliament joined the cabinet, two as full ministers and one as a state minister. The government party said that it was internationally recognised that If the number was more that five, there was no problem.
The last session of 1993 began on November 21 and ended on December 8. having a total of 12 working days. Even persons not interested in politics and parliament were perturbed as It seemed to be disintegrating. The uncertainty was created by a threat of Opposition Leader Sheikh Hasina to resign from Parliament.
On November 7 at a public rally in Dhaka the Prime Minister made a somewhat disparaging comment regarding the parliament and its members. Reacting to this, 27 MPs submitted separate notices alleging breach of their privilege. On November 19 when Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina returned from China she commented on the MP's remarks. Works Minister Barrister Rafiqul Islam reacted to these comments and also submitted a notice for a privilege motion.
Speaker Sheikh Razzak Ali at first accepted the notice against the MP's remarks to be discussed in parliament and even fixed a date for the discussion. On November 24 when the Speaker accepted the notice against the Leader of the Opposition. the trouble began, The leader of the opposition was extremely angered.
A unique characteristic of Bangladesh's Constitution is that it contains clear-cut rules concerning the form, work and authority of local government institutions. And the Twelfth Amendment made the local gov-
The LG RD and Cooperatives Minister placed a bill concern ing the zlla panshad structure in the budget session. The bill provided that the zlla parishad chairman would be elected by indirect vote. Another provision in the bill held that two men and one woman from every thana would be elected to the zila parishad by the union parishad chairman and members. Objections on certain points of this bill were sounded even from the Treasury Bench, and so the bill was not consid ered by the House.
Tlie government again took initiative to pass this bill during the twelfth session. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. however, asked that excessive Importance not be attached to the zila parishad issue. Some Treasury Bench members even suggest thal the local MPs be appointed as zlla parishad chairmen. But this would invite political problem in the 20 districts where BNP had not secured seats?
On December 7 when the bill was included in the order of the day it faced vehement opposition from Awami League. Jatiya Party and Jamaat. The opposition members recommended that zila parishad members be voted directly by the people. Eventually, on the next day. a special parliamentary committee comprising government and opposition members was formed to scrutinize the bill.
While general discussions and debates take place in the House, these actually are supposed to be dealt with by the various committees. That means supervising Work of various ministries, scrutinizing every law before ft Is placed in the House etc. The fundamental tasks of the parliament can be practised In these committees. Besides the committees on Individual ministries, there are many other parliamentary committees dealing with various topics. But the MPs do not have pleasant experiences regarding this committees.
For example, during the fourth session which continued from January 4 to February 18. 1992. the House accepted a proposal of the then Independent MP Nurul Islam Monl (later he Joined BNP) for having coastal guards to maintain. law and order in the coastal region. The government has done nothing In this regard although two years have passed since the proposal was made.
In the five sessions of 1993. the parliament has met for 94 working days. A lot of people's taxes have been spent on this. On March 13. 1993 Deputy Leader of the House Professor Badruddoza Chowdhury said • that the expenditure of «iie parliament was Taka 10 lac per day. On August 4. 1991 the Law Minister said that per minute Taka 1 lac 75 thousand was spent on the parliament. It is the duty of the MPs to see that the money Is well spent.
— Prepared by PROBE News Agency