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🇧🇩 Bangladesh /Elections & Politics

Jamaat MPs walk out of parliament after being denied committee chairmanships

From Daily Star · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers led by opposition deputy leader Syed Abdullah Mohammed Taher left Bangladesh’s parliament after 10 standing committees were formed with BNP chairmen.
  • Taher said the government had agreed to give the opposition 26% of committee chairmanships and had requested a list of nominees.
  • He accused the treasury bench of exploiting its two-thirds majority and ignoring the opposition’s rights.

Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers walked out of Bangladesh’s parliament at about 9:10 p.m., minutes after 10 new standing committees were formed. The protest centered on the opposition’s exclusion from committee chairmanships.

losing interest

— Syed Abdullah Mohammed TaherTaher described the opposition’s reaction to the treasury bench’s conduct.

The lawmakers were led by Syed Abdullah Mohammed Taher, the deputy leader of the opposition. All 10 newly appointed chairmen came from the BNP. Taher is the only opposition member appointed to chair a committee, the Public Accounts Committee, while no opposition MP received a chairmanship of a committee linked to a ministry.

Taher said the opposition had previously discussed the committee structure with the government. He claimed both sides had agreed that the opposition would receive 26% of committee memberships, based on its share of parliamentary seats, and argued that the same proportion should apply to chairmanships. He said the government had at one stage promised 10 chairmanships and collected a list of opposition nominees, which Jamaat submitted.

The government, because of its two-thirds majority, is becoming somewhat reckless.

— Syed Abdullah Mohammed TaherHe criticized the government after the committee chairmen were appointed.

“The government, because of its two-thirds majority, is becoming somewhat reckless,” Taher said. He also objected to what he described as an attempt to distribute committee posts selectively, saying opposition lawmakers were not children to be lured with “lollipops.”

We are not children to be lured with lollipops.

— Syed Abdullah Mohammed TaherTaher rejected what he characterized as selective offers of committee positions.

Parliamentary procedure requires all standing committees to be formed within the third session. The 13th Parliament has 50 standing committees, including 39 linked to ministries. The formation of the 10 committees brought the total established so far to 25, including 19 ministry-related committees. Taher argued that neither the rules of procedure nor privilege books set a party-by-party quota for chairmanships, but said the government could not simply award all the posts to itself.

That is dictatorship. Dictatorship means whatever I want, that is the law, that is my behavior.

— Syed Abdullah Mohammed TaherHe accused the government of treating the majority party’s wishes as parliament’s law.
About this summary

Originally published by Daily Star in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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