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Head lines
Conflict, contenders grow as BNP delays decision Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star The ruling BNP has not yet taken any decision on the appointment of a deputy leader of the House in place of AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, who was elected president over seven months ago. The indecision has, on the one hand, frustrated some frontline party leaders and increased the number of claimants to the position, on the other, said sources. They said the number of claimants has now risen to four, triggering a conflict among the groups in the ruling party. BNP sources said that Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at one stage almost finalised her decision on appointing BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan the deputy leader of the House, considering his political background and contribution to the party. But later, Khaleda shelved her decision as soon as Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman became a claimant to the position. The prime minister thought of accommodating both Bhuiyan and Rahman by introducing a new post of deputy prime minister, the sources added. But another section of BNP leaders who are against Bhuiyan and Rahman hindered the move and suggested that others from outside the cabinet be appointed to the two vital positions. The group put up KM Obaidur Rahman as a candidate for the position of deputy leader and suggested that the post of deputy prime minister should not be introduced. They argued that both Bhuiyan and Rahman hold important positions in the party as well as in the cabinet. Meantime, BNP standing committee member Col. (Retd) Oli Ahmed MP, who was not inducted into the cabinet, also expressed his desire to be the deputy leader of the House. According to BNP insiders, the group opposed to Saifur Rahman and Mannan Bhuiyan has been pursuing the prime minister to appoint KM Obaidur Rahman the deputy leader, arguing that such a post should be occupied by someone from outside the cabinet. On the other hand, the sources said, another section of BNP leaders was trying to pursue Khaleda Zia to create more than one post both of deputy leader and deputy prime minister to make all contenders happy. Yet another section argued that it would not be wise to create more posts because the cabinet is already being criticised both in and outside the party for its largeness. The leaders said the creation of the post of deputy prime minister does not arise at all because Khaleda is still quite active and physically fit. She is attending both office and parliament regularly, so creating the post of deputy prime minister is unnecessary and may make more party leaders aspirants, as happened after formation of a 60-member jumbo cabinet. Due to these conflicting suggestions, said the BNP sources, the prime minister may not appoint a deputy leader or introduce a new post of deputy prime minister right now. Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad Abdul Hamid yesterday asked the Speaker to delete Tuesday's proceedings on a resolution against opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. "The House adopted the resolution and held the discussion on it in violation of the Constitution and the parliament's Rules of Procedure," he said at a press briefing at his parliament chamber in the evening. Hamid also described the deliberations against the opposition leader "filthy, vulgar, derogatory and beyond any parliamentary norms". "I've never heard such language being used in the House by the lawmakers in my 32 years as a member of parliament." "The comments by the ministers and other treasury bench members have reflected their bad taste... We can't sit with them in the House," Hamid said, reacting sharply to what was said about the opposition leader the day before. On Tuesday, the parliament approved the resolution censuring Hasina for her remarks about the burial of late president Ziaur Rahman. The motion termed as 'vulgar, filthy, derogatory and unfortunate' Hasina's comment that slain president's body was not in his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar grave. "To prove that he is neutral, the speaker must delete the entire proceeding on the unconstitutional motion. Otherwise, we'll be forced to conclude that he is not neutral and does not want us to join the House." Commenting on the role of Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, Hamid said he (speaker) appeared to be a puppet as the ruling coalition lawmakers were blasting the opposition leader freestyle. "The speaker was a mere statue seated in the chair." Hamid, also the immediate-past speaker, called illegal the way the motion was moved by a BNP MP and accepted by the chair. "Relevant rules were not followed in bringing the supplementary agenda to the resolution for which the scheduled agenda was suspended," he said. "This proves the sovereign parliament has been turned into a platform of the four-party alliance." The deputy opposition leader said it was very unfortunate that the House took up for discussion a statement the opposition leader had made outside the parliament. He also echoed Hasina's claim that neither his widow (Prime Minister Khaleda Zia) nor his sons saw the late president's body. Graft case against Hasina, 2 others sent to Sessions Judge's Court for trial Court Correspondent, The Daily Star The graft case against former prime minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and two others was sent to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka, yesterday for trial. Mohammad Ayub, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, ordered transfer of the case to the Sessions Judge's Court after the case file was placed before him. The two others are Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former state minister for foreign affairs and Dr S A Samad, former principal secretary to Sheikh Hasina. Abdullah-Al-Zahid, officer of the Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) submitted the charge sheet to the CMM's Court, Dhaka, on Tuesday. In the case filed with Tejgaon police station, it has been alleged that Sheikh Hasina in connivance with former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former principal secretary Dr S A Samad and BEPZA Executive Chairman Brigadier General M A B Siddiq Talukder unnecessarily employed a lobbyist in the United States for garment industries that caused financial loss to the country to the tune of Tk 2.1 crore. Siddiq Talukder's name was dropped from the charge sheet as the allegation against him was not proved. In the charge sheet 15 people were shown as prosecution witnesses. The case was filed with Tejgaon thana on December 11 last year. Abdullah-Al-Zahid, also investigation officer (IO) of the case, got approval from the Prime Minister's office on June 6 for submission of the charge sheet. Three accused except Hasina were earlier granted ad-interim bail by the High Court. The court granted bail till submission of the police report. UNB, Dhaka, The Daily Star Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday said the government was on the alert for any evil design against the state or activities aimed to tarnish the image of the country. "Legal action will certainly be taken against anyone found involved in anti-state activities," she asserted while replying to a question from M Rashiduzzaman Millat in parliament. She informed the House that sedition cases had already been filed against three persons on specific charges of their involvement in anti-state activities. She also said investigation was on against another person for his alleged involvement in treason. Khaleda Zia categorically denied Bangladesh's link with any Taleban activity. "Bangladesh is now known in the world as a modern moderate democratic Muslim country. This image will continue to prevail in the future." She accused "a certain quarter" that suffered election debacle last October of trying to create anarchy in the country in a planned manner and to establish Bangladesh as a Taleban state in the eyes of the world. BSS, Dhaka, The Daily Star Members of the Armed Forces have so far earned Tk 1749.29 crore by taking part in the United Nations peacekeeping forces in different countries, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia told the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday. "Bangladesh achieved a total success in UN peacekeeping missions," she said while replying to a question by BNP lawmaker Alhaj Mohammad Sohrabuddin of (Kushtia) during the Prime Minister's question hour. Khaleda said the Bangladeshi troops were working as members of multinational forces to uphold peace and tranquillity in different countries under the UN charter. Besides, she said, soldiers and members of the security forces from Bangladesh are also extending their services in de-mining, relief operations and security of the interim governments under the UN peacekeeping missions. She said Bangladesh until now took part in 26 UN peace-keeping missions in 25 countries. Its officers worked as military observers, military liaison officers, staff officers and contingent members. A total of 24,726 members of Bangladesh Armed Forces took part in these 26 missions out of 43 UN peacekeeping missions, she said. Thus, the Prime Minister said, Bangladesh tops the list of participants in the UN peacekeeping forces, where a number of police personnel and civil officials also took part. She referred to her meeting with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during the recent UN special session on children in New York and said he had highly praised the role of Bangladesh Armed Forces in the UN peacekeeping missions.
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