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Head lines AL to join JS but keeps BNP guessing about timing by Special Correspondent, The Independent After prolonged deliberations and brain -storming sessions Awami League strategists have come to the conclusion that it would be prudent to join Parliament but are undecided on when. They have left it open for now. Awami League Chief and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Sheikh Hasina will make the final announcement as soon as she decides on the timing, party sources told The Independent yesterday. Awami League MPs are by and large disinclined to join the current budget session with a view to denying the government of the opportunity to claim that the main opposition party had a role in approving the budget. They feel that their joining Parliament immediately would give the ruling party political mileage at the expense of the Awami League. The Awami League leaders want to keep the ruling party leaders guessing while they wait for the opportune moment. The Awami League is at the same time not oblivious of the Constitutional provision on vacation of membership. Article 67 (b) provides that a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat if he is absent from Parliament, without the leave of Parliament, for ninety consecutive sitting days. They have done their arithmetic and will join Parliament any time before the expiry of the deadline because they do not want to sacrifice their membership without a cause. At least not yet. By joining Parliament the Awami League MPs will create a manoeuvring room for themselves in order to be able to do hard bargaining with the government should such bargaining become necessary. After joining Parliament AL MPs will watch the atmosphere in the House and decide their next course of action on a daily basis. If they do not find the atmosphere not congenial, they will know what to do in that situation. But so long as they remain in the House they will try to fully participate in its proceedings. There is a perception in some circles that the Awami League members will utilise their presence in the House to prove the point that congenial atmosphere does not exist and that continued participation is therefore meaningless. But Awami League sources assert that when they go to Parliament they will do so with an open mind. The decision to go to Parliament will be essentially Awami League’s own. Sources point out that the Awami League had persistently spurned government’s overtures for talks on joining Parliament, and Sheikh Hasina had firmly maintained that it would be entirely her party’s own decision. The government was keen to talk to the Awami League in an effort to persuade it to join Parliament during the budget session, but the latter had made its own political calculations and shunned face- to- face meeting with the ruling party leaders. Hawa Bhaban monitors party affairs, not Govt: Tareq by Staff Reporter, The Independent Tareq Rahman, the elder son of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and the late President Ziaur Rahman, once again made a statement yesterday about the status of Hawa Bhaban, the Banani office of the BNP Chairperson. He said categorically that there should be no more confusion about the role of Hawa Bhaban, being used as the office of the party Chairperson since before the October general elections. "Hawa Bhaban does not interfere in matters relating to the government but monitors party affairs on behalf of the Chairperson. The monitoring report is regularly submitted to the Chairperson and the Secretary General of the party for necessary action", he told a luncheon meeting with newsmen at a city hotel. "The role of Hawa Bhaban has been explained many times and we are not going to answer the same question if put forward with certain motives" an apparently annoyed Tareq replied to a question. He said that the party was now evaluating the progress of implementation of the election manifesto and the strategy to attain the goal before the next election. A young member of the party central committee and active organiser in his home district Bogra, Tareq Rahman, is much discussed in Bangladesh politics for being the key person at Hawa Bhaban. Tareq has become active in politics since the 1991 general elections when he played an important role in campaigning for his mother in the Bogra constituency. Tareq proved his organising capabilities by efficiently handling the four-party Long March programme in North Bengal in 1998 when thousands of marchers had an overnight stay in Bogra enjoying food and rest hosted by the Bogra BNP, party sources said. His name was discussed for party nomination in the last general elections for the Bogra constituency and it was at the height of discussions again when his mother vacated a seat in Bogra, they added. "I did not intend to run in the elections since there are senior and efficient leaders in Bogra", Tareq said. When asked about Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina’s criticism of Hawa Bhaban's influence on the framing of the budget, a smiling Tareq said that she (Hasina) could at least recognise the efficiency of Hawa Bhaban. Tareq Rahman was of the view that the youth and student forces should be used for nation building activities and be guided by national spirit. He said that students should concentrate on academic pursuits since they now enjoyed the benefits of democracy they fought for. Tareq Rahman was accompanied by Lutfuzzaman Babar, State Minister for Home Affairs; Ehsanul Huq Milon, State Minister for Education, Salauddin Ahmed, State Minister for Communications, Zahiruddin Swapon, MP and Mofidul Hasan Tripti, a BNP central leader. Deputy Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Maruf Kamal Sohel, Assistant Press Secretary Touhidul Islam and AKM Mohiuddin Khan also attended the luncheon meeting. Zia's body not interred in Zia's mazar: Hasina The Independent Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina yesterday questioned the utility of a Tk. 100 crore project undertaken at Zia's mazar where she claimed the slain President was not interred anyway, reports UNB. "I am giving the challenge that the body of Zia is not there... Let them prove it, let there be a DNA test," she said at a meeting with the elected office bearers of Gazipur District Bar and Gazipur Awami Ainjibi Parishad at her Dhanmondi office. Opening the controversy afresh if the bullet-ridden body of the late President Ziaur Rahman could be identified at all after the mutiny in Chittagong Cantonment on May 30, 1981, Hasina asked whether anyone had seen the body or face of Zia brought to Dhaka from Chittagong. "Being his widow could Begum Zia see her husband's face or if his sons could see their father's face?" she asked. "Nobody knows what General Ershad buried at the advice of Shah Azizur Rahman (then PM)," she said. "It is also not known whether body of Zia was in Chittagong as was claimed... Was there any dead body at all... Let them prove it," said the Awami League chief. Ridiculing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s advice that none should do politics with the death of BUET student Sony, Hasina accused her arch rival of being obsessed with partisan politics in running state affairs. "All are victims of her political vendetta, she is doing politics everywhere with everything-starting from sacking army, navy and airforce officers to peons and drivers of government transport pool out of sheer political grudge," she told the lawyers. She alleged even civil and police officers were either being promoted or downgraded in consideration of political loyalty without seeing their ACR, merit or seniority. In some remarks on the eight-month-rule of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina alleged roles of the PM’s family members in running the administration, "making it into a government of sons, brothers, sisters and nephews". The Independent Former Minister for Industries and Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed was yesterday sued in seven corruption cases for earning over Tk. 6 crore by "illegal means" during his tenure of office, reports UNB. Officials said the Bureau of Anti Corruption (BAC) filed the graft cases with Motijheel police, implicating six other persons as accomplices. Kazi Shamsul Haq, an inspector of BAC, filed the cases under sections 206, 420, 424 and 109 of the penal code. The others sued along with the veteran Awami League leader are Anwarul Islam and M Harun-ur-Rashid of Madona Advertising Ltd, Mosharraf Hossain, Iftarul Hasan, Hamidul Huq Mollah and Qamrul Hasan Milon. In the case statement the plaintiff said: "Tofail Ahmed, while a minister, earned large sums of money by corrupt means and from that money transferred a total of Tk 6,32,95,000 to Bhola," through Madona Advertising Ltd and in the name of the aforesaid six persons. Later, it is stated in the case, he drew the money from a bank in Bhola through these persons. Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star A final decision on ending the prolonged parliament boycott and joining the budget session would be taken on June 20 at a joint meeting of AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) and AL Parliamentary Party (ALPP) in the city, a meeting of the party's presidium decided yesterday. Party chief Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting held at AL's Dhanmondi office last night. Earlier on June 10 and 11, a meeting of ALCWC decided, in principle, to join the parliament without arriving at a probable timeframe in that regard. Yesterday's presidium meeting also decided to observe the 'Anti-repression and Prisoners Release Day' across the country on June 26. The meeting also discussed, in length, about observing the party's founding anniversary on June 23.
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