Opposition boycotts Bangladesh parliament<\/p>\n
DHAKA (Reuters): Opposition lawmakers boycotted the opening of
\nthe early autumn session of the Bangladesh parliament on Sunday,
\nwhich also saw a ruling party member quit over differences with
\nPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n
Kader Siddiky, a lawmaker of Awami League, handed his
\nresignation to Speaker Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury soon after the
\nhouse convened.<\/p>\n
\"I have decided to quit as Awami lawmaker because of
\ndifferences with the prime minister who recently called me 'mad
\nand a goat',\" he said in his letter of resignation.<\/p>\n
\"I think it is impossible to stay with Hasina's party after
\nsuch allegations have been made against me,\" Siddiky added.
\nChowdhury said he would consider the resignation before accepting
\nit.<\/p>\n
The boycott was pre-planned as opposition leader Begum Khaleda
\nZia, head of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had earlier
\nwarned of such action in a dispute over a government plan to let
\nIndian goods pass through Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
Besides the BNP deputies, members of Jatiya Party loyal to
\nformer president Hossain Mohammad Ershad, the Jamaat-e-islami and
\nIslami Oikyo Jote backed the boycott.<\/p>\n
The BNP and its allies said they would not attend parliament
\nuntil and unless the government publicly renounced its plan to
\nallow transportation of Indian goods by Bangladeshi trucks from
\none Indian border to another over Bangladesh territory.<\/p>\n
Hasina said the plan, if approved after consideration by a
\njoint experts committee, would earn Bangladesh $400 million a
\nyear.<\/p>\n
But Khaleda said such a \"suicidal\" plan could jeopardize
\nBangladesh's independence and sovereignty. She said India might
\nalso use the transit facility to send troops and weapons to
\nlandlocked northeast Indian states to fight separatist rebels.<\/p>\n
The opposition parties have staged three days of strikes in
\nprotest against the plan and Khaleda has said she would \"give
\nblood but not transit to India.\"<\/p>\n
Hasina on Saturday urged Khaleda to debate the issue in
\nparliament instead of causing suffering to the people and the
\neconomy by calling strikes and shutdowns. But her plea has gone
\nunheeded.<\/p>\n
Siddiky, a veteran of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence,
\nstarted falling out with Hasina early this year over a number of
\npolicy issues.<\/p>\n
Hasina last month sacked him from the party but did not strip
\nhim of his parliament seat immediately.<\/p>\n
Siddiky had commanded some 17,000 Bengali guerrillas in the
\n1971 war against Pakistan, which won him the name \"Tiger Siddiky\"
\nfor his valor.<\/p>",
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