JS Session Begins
Speaker hopes crisis to be over soon
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has said the nation hopes that the treasury and the opposition benches will resolve any disagreement between them through discussions and debate in the last session of this parliament.
Delivering her inaugural speech of the session in the absence of the BNP-led opposition MPs yesterday, she said the parliament session was important as the national elections were scheduled to take place between October 25 and January 24 -- 90 days before the dissolution of the parliament.
It is assumed that this session will be the last of the ninth parliament that began on January 25, 2009.
Earlier in the day, the Business Advisory Committee (Bac) of parliament held a meeting and decided to continue the present session till October 24, suspending it only once or twice before that for Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja.
The committee conferred the authority on the Speaker to increase or decrease the session's duration.
At the meeting, it also decided to hold a general discussion on "Strengthening Voice of Democracy" marking the World Democracy Day on September 15, according to a press release by the parliament secretariat.
With the Speaker in the chair, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other members of Bac attended the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. No one from BNP was there.
Although the opposition MPs did not attend yesterday's parliament sitting, BNP insiders said opposition lawmakers were likely to return to the House next week.
Addressing a meeting at the Jatiya Press Club, BNP senior MP Moudud Ahmed said they would not boycott this session.
“But we want to observe government's attitude; whether it takes any move to break the present political stalemate" centring on the mechanism to hold the upcoming general polls, he said.
The first sitting of the sesson adopted an obituary motion on the demise of distinguished personalities, including ruling Awami League MP Golam Sabur who died in a fatal road accident on the Faridpur-Barisal highway on July 26.
Through the obituary references, the Jatiya Sangsad recalled with deep respect the contribution of these personalities to their respective fields and conveyed profound sympathy for the bereaved families.
Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and five ruling alliance MPs recalled Golam Sabur's outstanding contribution to the country.
FIVE-MEMBER PANEL
Speaker Shirin yesterday nominated a five-member panel to preside over sittings of the current 19th session of parliament in the absence of her and the deputy speaker.
The panel members are A B M Golam Mostafa, Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, Mujibul Haque, Z IM Mostafa Ali and Ashrafunnessa Mosharraf. They will preside over the sittings as per their numerical order.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments