& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

JS suffers worst quorum crisis

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The Jatiya Sangsad yesterday suffered the worst quorum crisis in the recent history that compelled the speaker to adjourn the House, thanks to a boycott by the main opposition Awami League (AL) and the absence of most ruling party deputies.
After two futile attempts to start the sitting, deputy speaker Akhter Hamid Siddiqui adjourned the House at 8:20pm yesterday till 4:30pm on Sunday.
The discussion on thanks-giving motion on the presidential address could not be held due to the quorum crisis.
The House sat at 4:40pm with only 41 lawmakers and it took about 30 minutes for a quorum of at least 60 members. After an hour of question-answer session, the House was adjourned for Magrib prayers, then came the quorum crisis.
After the break, the deputy speaker finding the lack of quorum adjourned the House twice -- first for one minute and then for five minutes. Then he ordered to ring the bell for drawing attention of the lawmakers to join the sitting.
But, despite repeated appeals by the deputy speaker who also asked the whips to bring the lawmakers to the House, hardly 40-45 deputies
SEE PAGE 11 COL 8
FROM PAGE 1
turned up. Leader of the House Khaleda Zia and most of her senior ministers were absent.
As there were only 34lawmakers in the House at 8:05pm during the disposal of call attention notices, Jatiya Party (Ershad) lawmaker Golam Habib Dulal drew the speaker's attention about the quorum crisis.
"It is not legal to continue the session in such a situation. This will be violation of the constitution as well as the rules of procedure," Dulal said without microphone as the BNP and Jamaat deputies tried to stop him by creating noise.
But the deputy speaker who was chairing the session took the matter in his cognisance and adjourned the House for one minute. He ordered to ring the bell. After one minute, only three members entered the House. "The parliament will run by its rules," the deputy speaker said observing the situation. He then asked the whips to ensure the presence of MPs at least to complete a quorum and adjourned the House for another five minutes.
After the speaker's order, the whips were seen busy at the lobby convincing the lawmakers for joining the House, but only 10 lawmakers responded and the total number of members in the House rose to 47.
The deputy speaker took the chair for the third time at 8:15pm and adjourned the House till 4:30pm on Sunday finding the continued quorum crisis.
During the first one hour of sitting from 4:40pm, the House disposed of two private members resolutions and the lawmakers spoke on call attention notices for 30 minutes, as the day was a private members' day.
The AL lawmakers started abstaining from parliament proceedings when it went into the 15th session on January 31.
The main opposition took the decision not to join parliament as the speaker refused to adjourn the January 31 sitting after adopting the obituary reference on AL lawmaker Shah AMS Kibria and defer the presidential address.
Earlier, taking part in discussion on a call attention notice, Jamaat MP Riasat Ali Biswas castigated the AL for 'creating an unstable situation' in the name of antigovernment movement.
Another Jamaat lawmaker, Mia Golam Parwar demanded law minister's interference in resolving the crisis of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).