Four More Parliamentary Committees Formed as Opposition Again Gets No Chairmanships

Bangladesh’s parliament formed four more standing committees, but the opposition again failed to secure chairmanships of ministry-related bodies. Opposition lawmakers had demanded 26 percent of the chairmanships, while the ruling party made their participation in a special constitutional amendment committee a condition for granting them leadership posts.

Parliamentary rules require all standing committees to be formed by the third session. The 13th parliament has 50 committees, including 39 linked to ministries. Forty have now been formed, with 31 ministry-related committees among them.

Only one opposition lawmaker has so far been appointed chairman of a standing committee, the Committee on Public Accounts. No opposition MP chairs a ministry-related committee. The opposition rejected a 12-member special committee on constitutional amendment, chaired by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, after being asked to nominate five members.

Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni proposed the committees, and lawmakers approved them by voice vote. Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed was named chairman of the Rules of Procedure Committee and the Petitions Committee. Rezaul Karim Badsha was named to lead the committee on the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, while Mahbub Uddin Khokon was named chairman of the Government Assurances Committee.

The Government Assurances Committee triggered a separate dispute over Gazi Nazrul Islam, an MP expelled from Jamaat-e-Islami on charges of moral turpitude. Opposition lawmakers objected to his inclusion, and his name was ultimately removed. The chief whip said all 349 MPs had to serve on at least one committee and that Nazrul had not been assigned under the opposition quota. Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman then said the opposition had no objection, while Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal recalled that Nazrul had previously been removed from committees at the opposition’s request.