Speaker Abdul Hamid said on Sunday that some lawmakers’ remarks censuring noted litterateur Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed would be expunged from the parliament proceedings.
“I, on behalf of the Jatiya Sangsad, regret some unparliamentary comments about Prof Abu Sayeed,” he said. “All the comments will be expunged form the proceedings.”
Citing a news report, Awami League-led ruling alliance lawmakers in the House on June 3 alleged that Prof Sayeed had told a TIB programme on June 2 that lawmakers and ministers act like “thieves and robbers”.
Ali Ashraf, an AL lawmaker who was presiding over the sitting, demanded that Sayeed offer an unconditional apology in the House.
The Daily Star has learned what the noted litterateur had actually said at the event of Transparency International Bangladesh. It is not corruption when a thief steals, but when a man who has undertaken to follow ethics, rule and the law indulges in stealing then it becomes corruption, Prof Sayeed said.
As an example, he said when a minister or a lawmaker who has taken oath to act in a fair and ethical manner fails to do so, it is corruption.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujib-ul-Haque Chunnu phoned Prof Sayeed and expressed regret for the remark he made about him.
However, neither independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim nor AL MP Sheikh Selim has expressed regret or anything like that so far.
Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, is widely respected for the book reading programme he started in 1980 for students of class VI to XII.
Source: The Daily Star
