Terming the contempt of Parliament allegation as ‘false’, the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra founder Abdullah Abu Sayeed has said he would not apologise for remarks which he never made.
Sayeed told on Sunday night that his remarks which were discussed in the House were ‘completely baseless’. “I did not make any such comment at the TIB programme,” report bdnews24.com
Prof Ali Ashraf MP, who was presiding the session on Sunday, had asked Sayeed to tender an unconditional apology for his ‘objectionable’ remarks regarding the lawmakers and ministers at a discussion organised by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) on Saturday.
He made the call after several MPs during an unscheduled discussion in parliament alleged that Bengali daily Inqilab published a report which said Sayeed commented that ‘MPs and ministers act like thieves and dacoits and breach oath’.
Asked about apologising to the Parliament, Abu Sayeed told bdnews24.com: “I won’t apologise for something I did not say.”
Saying he expected respectful behaviour from the MPs, Sayeed said, “They should have checked the facts before discussing the matter. Members of Parliament are the nation’s defender; so we can expect at least respect from them.”
About his remarks at the TIB programme, he said, “What I had said is that we would not call it corruption if a thief steals or a dacoit robs, because corruption is related to morality. Thieves and dacoits don’t have any morals.”
“What I said at the programme is that if a minister takes oath to ensure justice to everyone without considering friends or foes and breaks the oath, then it is corruption.”
Sayeed said, “My comments were presented in a wrong way in the news report and the MPs reacted after reading that.”