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IMAGE OF JS

Guilty, who?

Shakhawat Liton
Unruly behaviour in parliament and the controversial activities of some MPs in and outside the House have contributed largely to a tarnishing of the image of the Jatiya Sangsad in the last three and a half years.
But no exemplary action was taken against any of those lawmakers who were, and indeed are, responsible for undermining the dignity of the House, although repeated warnings were issued by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the leader of the House, against such rowdy behaviour.
Such non-action seems to have given birth to a culture of impunity for the ruling alliance MPs, who have earned a bad reputation for themselves and the government as a whole.
On the other hand, bashing the media and accusing civil society members of undermining the dignity of parliament have become fashionable for some lawmakers.
However, while hitting out at the media and eminent citizens, MPs keep quiet
about the controversial activities, unruly behaviour and misconduct of their colleagues.
In the last three and a half years, several lawmakers of the ruling Awami League have assaulted government officials, journalists and policemen.
For instance, during the Teknaf upazila parishad election on January 22,2009, AL MP Abdur Rahman Bodi unlawfully entered the poll-
ing centre and beat up three assistant presiding officers. In May the same year, Bodi, elected from Cox's Bazar-4 constituency, manhandled advocate Rakhal Mitra, a rights activist of the district.
With no action taken against him, Bodi seemed to feel rather encouraged to behave in a more unruly manner. In July last year, he assaulted a local school teacher when the latter protested against Bodi's move to grab partoftheschool land.
The local unit of the Jatiya Party, a component of the AL-led alliance, enforced a half day hartal there in protest at the incident.
In Pabna, AL lawmaker Golam Faruk Khandaker Prince openly took a stance against the district administration in September 2010 as his alleged demand for recruiting his party men in government service was not met by the then deputy commissioner. Rebuffed, Jubo League and Chhatra League
men attacked the administration officials, including a female magistrate, during the recruitment exam.
It was one of those incidents that tainted the government's image greatly.
The story of Golam Faruk might have encouraged the Jatiya Party lawmaker of Rangpur-1, Hossain Makbul Shahriar, who is the nephew of JP chief HM Ershad, to attack government employees of a local hospital in his demand for jobs for his party men at Rangpur Medical College Hospital. Five truckloads of stick-wielding Jatiya Party activists under the leadership of the MP launched the attack on January 28 this year.
But the employees of the hospital set up a barricade and tried to resist the attack A clash ensued and law enforcers had to fire 40 teargas canisters and use truncheons to disperse the feuding sides. The lawmaker, eight journalists and seven policemen were among the injured.
There is more. AL law-maker Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shaon of Bhola-3 constituency was sued over the killing of party leader Ibrahim Ahmed in the capital in August 2010. Local AL leader Ibrahim was reportedly shot with the MP's licensed pistol.
AL lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Majumder, who earned much of a bad name during the previous AL-led government rule between 1996 and 2001 for many of his wrongdoings, could not demonstrate any change in behaviour. This time, he came into the scene by assaulting a female television journalist at Monipur High School and College at Mirpur in the capital in January this year.
The journalist for her part had gone to seek Kamal's comment on the school authority's decision to charge admission fees way beyond the amount fixed by the government. Later, Kamal took the floor in parliament to claim his innocence and castigated the media for defaming him through running "false news."
Policemen, who have gone to the extent of beating up opposition MPs and journalists, were also assaulted by the ruling party lawmakers.
In Dhaka, AL lawmaker Ilias Ali, elected from another constituency in Mirpur, assaulted an on-duty policeman on June 30, 2010. The policeman filed a case against Ilias.
Another AL MR Sheikh Afil Uddin of Jessore, in August 2010 assaulted the officer-in-charge of a police station of his constituency.
Very recently, on May 18 this year, Mymensingh-IOAL MP Captain (retd) Ghyas Uddin Ahmed opened fire on a crowd to thwart an agitation against him in his area.
Newspapers have also run numerous reports over many MPs' other unlawful and controversial activities in other constituencies as well.
The way many MPs behave inside parliament questions the dignity of the House, to say nothing of their interest in parliamentary proceedings. Whenever the ruling and opposition MPs have faced off in the House, the situation got tense and the use of unparliamentary
words by some lawmakers was termed shameful by the Speaker on March 19.
And a year before the Speaker's comment, former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru, upset by the frequent use of indecent and vulgar words in parliament, said on March 22 last year that the language used by some lawmakers are not even used in the "red-lightdistrict".
"Stop live broadcast of parliament proceedings. No gentleman's family now wants to watch parliament proceedings on TV" Khasru had lamented.
No action was taken against the lawmakers for using unparliamentary language, leading to the recurrence of similar incidents in the House in March this year.
Given the situation, one wonders if the civil society members or the lawmakers themselves are undermining the dignity of the Jatiya Sangsad.