JS sees indecent remarks about political rivals over 2,000 times!

Around 15 per cent of the time allocated to the 7th to 13th sessions of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad (JS / national assembly), which was formed through controversial elections in 2014, was spent in using unparliamentary language, research suggests.

Aggressive, harsh and indecent words were used during the proceedings, said Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in a research report published on Sunday.

The political rivals, who have no scope to defend them in the House, were subjected to such harsh, indecent and aggressive language during the sessions.

The TIB research counted that the political opposition was verbally attacked in parliament as many as 2,101 times during the said period.

The official opposition in parliament, which is also part of the government, was not even spared, as they faced reprimand 433 times during these sessions, according to the research.

TIB presented at its office the report titled 'Parliament watch' which termed the practice of attacking the politcal rivals 'deviation from parliamentary rules of procedure'.

'In parliament, the opposition in recent times tried to become more active. However, their dual role remains the same," TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said while releasing the report.

On a query, he said it is yet to come to a conclusion to say whether the 10th parliament has been effective or not.

TIB trustee board chairperson Sultana Kamal also said it still could not be concluded that this parliament has been effective. "There are a lot of doubts," she added.

Source: Prothom Alo