November 15, 2002	Friday	Ramazan 9, 1423

DHAKA, Nov 14: Sheikh Hasina, the president of the Bangladesh Awami League and Leader of the Opposition in Jatiya Sangsad (parliament), has threatened the government with the resignation of her party MPs.

Hasina’s threat came this afternoon, following the Speaker’s refusal to give her the floor when she demanded it, and interruption while addressing the House on the opening day of the present Parliament’s fifth session in the morning.

“We will be forced to take the extreme step, if the Speaker continues to deny us the right to speak and humiliate us inside the House every day, Sheikh Hasina told newsmen at a press briefing at her Parliament chamber.

Earlier, the Awami League legislators, 58 in the 300 strong House, staged a walkout in protest over the Speaker’s refusal to allow Hasina and her party colleagues in Parliament to speak about the on-going army drive against crimes on a “point of order”.