Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will explain her government position on the Islamist militants in her winding up speech of the current session of parliament, she assured an opposition lawmaker in the House yesterday. When Krishak Sramik Janata League lawmaker Abdul Quader Siddiqi threw a question on the issue to the premier, she said: "I will respond to the query, but not today. I will speak on the issue in my valedictory speech."

The current session of the 8th

Jatiya Sangsad is likely to be prorogued on March 15 next and the prime minister (PM) will deliver the speech on that day.

Raising the issue during the PM's question-answer session, Siddiqui pointed out that the government had earlier denied the existence of Islamist militants, but later it banned two militant organisations following intelligence reports.

He referred to the ongoing crackdown on the Islamist militants and wanted to know if the government would punish those who had been denying the existence of such militant outfits or reward those who reported their activities.

As Siddiqui put the question as a supplementary to another question on poverty reduction, he said he would not mind if the PM did not respond. The PM termed the question irrelevant, but gave him the assurance.

Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar, who was in the chair, also said the question was irrelevant.

The prime minister while answering the question on poverty reduction listed the government's various antipoverty steps including housing, rehabilitation, training and microcredit programmes for the poor.

"As we have created huge employment opportunities in villages across the country, people are not pouring into the cities," she said. PM LATE

The House yesterday witnessed a different scenario. The session began at 4:55pm, 25 minutes

behind the schedule. The quorum was fulfilled at 4:40pm but the speaker could not start the day's business due to the absence of the PM.

The PM's question-answer session was at the top of yesterday's agenda. When the speaker took his seat, more than a hundred lawmakers were present in the House, which is unusual in the current session, plagued with quorum crisis.