AL returns to BD parliament

Published June 16, 2004

DHAKA, June 15: Lawmakers of the main opposition Awami League on Tuesday returned to parliament ending a year-old boycott and made their presence immediately felt by blasting the government for alleged fall in law and order and rise of fundamentalism.

Awami League president and leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, took the lead and wondered whether the country was being ruled by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led coalition or somebody else.

"It appears the country is being ruled by duel administrations - one by the BNP-led coalition and the other by fundamentalist group leader Bangla-Bhai," Hasina told the house in her first remarks inside the house since her party staged a walkout of the parliament a year ago.

The opposition leader entered the house a few minutes after her parliamentary deputies got in at the start of the day's sitting. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was not present at that time.

Taking the floor, Hasina made a number of points regarding government's alleged failures and came down heavily on the government of her arch political rival. She also blasted the government for implicating several hundred of her workers in false cases in the aftermath of the killing of AL lawmaker Ahsan Ullah Master in Tongi last month.

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