Opposition urged to play active role in JS debates

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NEW YORK, Apr 22 (bdnews24.com): Speaker Abdul Hamid said that the role of the opposition in parliament was significant because only it could point out the mistakes of the government.
He urged the opposition to play an active role in parliamentary debates.
The Speaker claimed that he was neutral and said that he gave the opposition sufficient time to speak in the House.
The opposition, however, has claimed that they are rarely allowed to speak in parliament.
Hamid was speaking at a meeting on "Democracy and Development in Bangladesh" here Wednesday.
He said that former BNP speaker Jamiruddin Sircar allowed the Awami League, to speak for just one fifth of the total parliamentary time -- equivalent to the proportion of parliamentary seats held by the AL.
"But I never told the opposition that they will be only allowed to speak for one tenth of the total time," he said. He was alluding to the fact that the BNP had half the seats the AL had when it was in opposition.
Between, 2001 and 2006, the Awami League had 58 members of parliament, and the BNP now has 30.
Hamid said: "I always ensure that the opposition can speak. This is democracy."
"If anybody boycotts parliament for political motivation I cannot be blamed for that," he said.
The United Nations Bangladesh Mission and the Global Non-resident Bangladeshis jointly organised the meeting.