BNP MPs took oath at Tarique’s order: Fakhrul

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said their party's MPs-elect have taken oath at party acting chairman's Tarique Rahman's instruction.

Two hours after their party's four MPs-elect were sworn in, Fakhrul came up with the remarks at a press conference at BNP chairperson's Gulshan office.

"Amid a serious crisis in national politics and a complicated situation, our party has taken the decision to join parliament as part of our movement for our leader Khaleda Zia's release and her proper treatment and restoration of democracy," he said.

Earlier, two BNP MPs also claimed that they have taken oath at the last moment at the behest of party acting chairman Tarique Rahman.

Talking to reporters after taking oath, Harun-ur-Rashid Harun and lawyer Abdus Sattar also said they came to parliament after consultation with Tarique.

Abdus Sattar, also a former state minister, said they talked to Tarique through videoconferencing, and he permitted them to take oath.

Harun, also a party joint general secretary, said, "We've come to parliament and taken oath at Tarique Rahman's order."

He said the current parliament is not representing people and the government is not elected with people's votes. "There's no election on 30 December. That's why BNP rejected the election. But we joined parliament to talk about the misrule of the government."

Harun said the government has destroyed democracy through rigging votes while it amended the constitution to hang onto power unfairly. "It's now the responsibility of the government to form an administration with people's representatives."

Mentioning that their chairperson has been kept in jail through a ruling 'party-dictated' lower court verdict, he hoped that the government will take immediate steps for freeing Khaleda Zia on bail and ensuring her proper treatment.

Asked why their party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir did not take oath when Tarique asked them to do so, Harun declined to make any comment on it saying, "He (Fakhrul) can say about it better."

Replying to another question, he said their party expelled Zahidur Rahman Zahid as he was sworn in before getting the party's green signal. "He apologised to Tarique Rahman today, and the party will now change its decision on him."

Asked whether parliament has got legitimacy with their oath-taking, the BNP joint secretary general said, "We've come to parliament to depict the country's anarchic situation as there's no rule of law and good governance."

Earlier, BNP's four MPs-elect -- Advocate Abdus Sattar (Brahmanbaria-2), Harun-ur Rashid Harun (Chapainawabganj-3), Aminul Islam (Chapainawabganj-2) and Mosharraf Hossain (Bogura-4) -- took oath as members of the 11th Parliament, following the footstep of Zahidur Rahman Zahid (Thakurgaon-3).

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the swearing-in around 5:40pm at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban while parliament senior secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan conducted the oath-taking ceremony.

With the latest ones, 299 MPs-elect out of 300 in the 11th parliamentary polls were sworn in.

Only BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir did not take oath while the stipulated time for being sworn expired today.

BNP along with Gonoforum and some other parties joined the election in alliance under the banner of Jatiya Oikyafront. BNP bagged six seats while Gonoforum two in the election.

The alliance turned down the election results bringing the allegation of 'massive vote robbery' and decided not to join parliament.

However, Gonoforum's two MPs-elect Sultan Mohammad Mansur (Moulvibazar-2) and Mokabbir Khan (Sylhet-2) were sworn in on 7 and 2 April respectively.

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