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BNP walks away from Sangsad

Khaleda leads, attending only 6 out of254 sittings

Shakhawat Liton
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia was present at only six out of 254 sittings of the current parliament in the last three years.
Lawmakers of the BNP-led opposition seem to have performed much better than their leader by attending 51 sittings in the same period.
It remains uncertain, though, whether the opposition MPs will be regular in joining the House proceedings in the remaining two years or will continue their current strategy about dodging the proceedings. If the political situation does not improved significantly — and that is what the signs suggest — the culture of boycotting parliament may reach a new height, exceeding all previous records.
The BNP-led opposition MPs opted for boycotting the House in phases. In the first phase, they started to stay away from the House in June 2009. The boycott continued till February 2010. Having remained absent for 64 consecutive sittings, on February 11, 2010 they returned to Parliament.
A fresh boycott commenced in June 2010 and did not end till March 16,2011, by which time the opposition had been away from 74 consecutive sittings. They stormed out of the House on March 24 and have not returned since then. In the current, third phase they have already boycotted over 48 consecutive sittings, that is, till last session prorogued on November 30 lastyear.
Information available suggests that in opposition, Awami League MPs in the fifth Parliament boycotted 135 out of 400 sittings. In the seventh Parliament, the opposition BNP MPs missed 163 out of total382sittings. Again, opposition AL lawmakers boycotted 223 out of 373 sittings of the eighth parliament's five year tenure.
In the current Parliament, BNP-led opposition MPs have already boycotted 203 sittings in the last three years. And in so doing they clearly ignored their electoral pledges made to the people before the December 29, 2008 parliamentary election.
The BNP and its key ally in four-party alliance, the Jamaat-e-Islami, had promised that if voted to power, they would adopt a strong stance, including one relating to bringing about amendments to the constitution, if required, in order to bring an end to the pervasive culture of House boycott.
The BNP in its manifesto stated that no MPs could remain absent for more than 30 consecutive sittings without leave of the House.
The BNP-led four-party alliance failed to return to power at the elections, but they did get around 38 percent of all votes cast.
The opposition bench could not play its due role in the House as the BNP seems to have preferred to remain absent from almost all sittings of parliament through raising a volley of partisan demands.
Despite the number of MPs behind her, Khaleda Zia's status in parliament is right after Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She has the responsibility to lead her deputies in working as a shadow cabinet. But her poor attendance only shows her reluctance to joining parliamentary proceedings.
The office of the leader of the opposition in parliament also remains almost unutilised as Khaleda has only attended it on very few occasions.
Khaleda Zia, who is entitled to the remuneration and benefits of a cabinet minister, has not picked a deputy leader of the opposition in the last threeyears.
The opposition deputies' absence virtually puts the government in a comfortable situation. That way, it can avert criticism and scrutiny by the opposition bench.
Although they have been boycotting the House, the opposition MPs are drawing their remuneration and allowances and enjoying all privileges without carrying out their duties.
The performance of BNP MPs in the seventh Parliament was better than in the present. BNP lawmakers were present for 219 of a total of 382 sittings of the then House. Khaleda Zia, then opposition leader, attended 28 sittings during the five year tenure of parliament.