JS
tidbits
Making lengthy statements or talking about irrelevant issues
while asking questions is nothing new in parliament.
Repeated appeals by the Chair to the questioners to be
precise and discreet have hardly improved the
situation.Saving exceptions, the MPs generally speak a lot
often confusing the ministers about the questions they ask
and receiving warnings from the Chair.That was the case
yesterday when Nurul Huda of BNP raised his question for
Prime Minister and Leader of the House Khaleda Zia, who
attended the PM's Question Time for the first time since the
new parliament came into being.
Interestingly, Speaker
Jamiruddin Sircar allowed Huda to speak for quiet sometime
before he made a supplementary on his starred question. This
angered the prime minister and other top leaders sitting on
the front row. Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman,
Health Minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain and PM's
Parliamentary Affairs Advisor Salahuddin Quader Choudhury
all started shouting at the BNP legislator on the
floor.However, the speaker intervened only after SQ
Choudhury jumped to his feet and protested Huda's lengthy
statement. "It's not fair that you have made a
statement for five minutes in the name of asking a
supplementary question." Nevertheless, similar practice
by others continued even on the day.
But, precise questions do not
always help in smooth running of the House or saving time
because of the fact that the ministers are not also used to
hear such questions. In fact, the minister concerned becomes
attentive a few minutes after the questioner starts speaking
as the question usually comes at the end of the
statement.For example, the finance minister yesterday failed
to follow BNP MP Rustam Ali Farazi who, being advised by the
Chair, had made his question precise. Still busy talking to
the prime minister, the finance minister had to request
Farazi to repeat his question.
*****
Communications Minister
Nazmul Huda came up with yet another interpretation of the
much-talked about political issue of the spirit of the War
of Liberation. Disagreeing to the generally accepted concept
that the spirit derived from the 1971 war, Huda told
parliament that there were two spirits of liberation. The
first spirit was gained in 1947 when Pakistan got
independence from India on the basis of religion and again
in 1971 when Bangladesh got independence from Pakistan on
the basis of language."I don't' like to be identified
only as a Muslim or only as a Bangalee. In fact, I am a
Bangalee Muslim."
*****
Jamaat-e-Islami MP Shah
Mohammad Ruhul Quddus issued sort of a religious edict that
Allah did not like those who had run into debts. "Allah
will not forgive such people once they die," he said,
condemning the fact the finance minister had disclosed in
the House that per capita foreign debt in Bangladesh now
stood at US$ 123.86.Another lawmaker of the fundamentalist
party, Mia Golam Parwar demanded immediate arrest of a
number of noted personalities known for their stance against
fundamentalism.He accused Prof. Kabir Choudhury, Syed Hasan
Imam, Muntasir Mamun, Abed Khan and some others including
Shahriar Kabir of being engaged in anti-state activities and
said "they all should be taken on police remand to
unearth their conspiracy". At this, many BNP lawmakers
cheered the Jamaat MP.
*****
Finance and Planning Minister
M. Saifur Rahman held the past Awami League government
responsible for causing a "sharp rise" in the
amount of foreign credits by spending money in unproductive
sectors. "...GDP in the past five years had a declining
trend and it ended up being in the grave," he said
while projecting a gloomy picture of the economy during the
AL rule.
Statistics however show that
the country's GDP growth was the highest in the last 26
years during the tenure of the AL government.During the
question-answer hour, the finance minister came down heavily
on the last government for permitting 13 private banks to
operate. "They opened new banks like [candy] shops ...
there had been a mushroom growth of banks, which had no
market in the country," he said, adding those banks
also lacked transparency in their management. "We have
decided not to deposit the exchequer's money with private
banks less than five years old.
*****
BNP deputy ABM Ashrafuddin
compared the condition of a section of his constituents with
that of a broken heart and a lyre with severed strings.
"Like a broken heart that cannot love or a lyre with
severed string that cannot stir musical waves the lives of
the river erosion-hit people of Ramgati in Laxmipur are
without a tune," he said to draw sympathy of the
minister concerned.In his call attention notice, the
treasury bench member demanded rehabilitation of the
Rampagati people who have lost everything. "They are so
poor that they even cannot dream of wearing a pair of rubber
slippers."
