Home affairs minister Sahara Khatun on Thursday accused the BNP chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, and some opposition lawmakers of assaulting on-duty police personnel, using abusive words, damaging vehicles, taking out processions and staging a rally in the premises
of the Jatiya Sangsad while the Parliament was in session.
Sahara, speaking in the Parliament under Section 300 of the Rules of Procedure, expressed sympathy for Farroque as 'his head had been injured when he fell down on
the ground', and said that all the incidents
including the unlawful activities that took
place in the Parliament's compound on Wednesday were unexpected and unfortunate.
She also said that all the incidents which took place at that time would be investigated.
'We have formed a three-member inquiry committee headed by an additional police commissioner, and a case has been lodged with
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar thana in this connection,' said Sahara, adding that action would be taken against anyone who had acted unlawfully.
She also said that although any sort of agitation in the Parliament's compound and adjacent areas was prohibited during a session, the opposition lawmakers staged a rally and brought out a procession while the session was in progress.
Referring to a photograph published in Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo, the minister said that the BNP lawmakers led by Farroque threw stones at vehicles in Farm Gate area when they took position there after the police stopped them from staging a rally in the Parliament's premises.
She also claimed that the people did not respond to the opposition parties' call for hartal
because there were no valid issues.
Sahara said that the public life was normal in the capital and other parts of the country and the hartal had no impact.
'Seventy-five mills and factories of the BNP members remained open during the hartal,' she said, adding that two of the factories belonging to Farroque had been operational during the hartal.
Independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim strongly criticised the police action on Farroque and urged the government to refrain from destroying the police as an impartial, non-partisan institution.
Speaker Abdul Hamid told Sahara that he had sent a letter to her ministry, requesting that necessary action be taken against those found to be responsible for Wednesday's unfortunate incident.
Source : New Age
