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NEWS analysis

JS Body Minus Opposition A giant leap backward

Shakhawat Liton
It was the Awami League-led government that had brought about significant reforms in the committee system in the seventh Jatiya Sangsad 11996-2001] through preventing ministers from heading parliamentary bodies.
And in the last parliament [2009-20014] it set a rare instance by making three opposition MPs-two of them belonging to its archrival BNP-chiefs of parliamentary standing committees - a move that was appreciated by all.
The Sheikh Hasina-led immediate past government and her party AL had taken the credit for this achievement.
It was expected that this would evolve gradually as a strong parliamentary convention. This practice would contribute to making the committee system more effective, which would brighten the image of the Jatiya Sangsad.
But in the current parliament, the AL has taken a step backward by denying opposition MPs the chairmanship of anv of the 45 parliamentary bodies, which are constitutionally empowered to play a pivotal role in the discharging of parliament's oversight functions.
The AL finalised the formation of the committees last week by making its own MPs chiefs of all the parliamentary bodies. Of them, 39 committees are on the same number of ministries.
This has annoyed even the AL's handmaiden main opposition Jatiya Party that had expected some chairmen posts for its MPs.
" It's a deviation from the convention that began in last parliament," said Jatiya Party Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader. "We will meet the prime minister to this effect."
Not even any of the MPs belonging to the Workers Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, two components of the ruling AL-led alliance, was made chief of any standing committee. The two MPs of the component parties who were chiefs of two parliamentary bodies in the last parliament have, however, been made ministers this time.
The 16 independent MPs have also faced a similar fate.
Opposition MPs have, however, been made members of different parliamentary bodies.
Parliamentary affairs expert Prof Nizam Ahmed, a teacher at Chittagong University,
thinks the denial of any chairman posts to opposition MPs has proved that the ruling AL does not consider the JP as a genuine opposition in parliament.
The AL thinks the JP is a part of the government as three of its MPs are ministers, he observed.
"But the truth is the Jatiya Party is at least an official opposition. So, some of its MPs should have been made chiefs of the parliamentary bodies for continuation of the convention born in the last parliament," Nizam asserted.
Sheikh Hasina, leader of the House, picked the MPs who will be leading the parliamentary bodies and accordingly the chief whip proposed the formation of the bodies. The House passed them by voice vote.
Of the 50 committees, the speaker was ex-officio chiefs of four committees. The deputy speaker headed one.
By refusing to give even the handmaiden opposition party any chairman posts, the AL has also brought into question the government's sincerity in making sacrifices to achieve something better.
This has also undermined the AL's electoral pledge to take all necessary measures to make effective a House constituted through a controversial and voter-less January 5 election held amid a boycott by the BNP-led alliance.