The parliamentary watchdog on the foreign ministry met for the first time in more than a year, Tuesday, and the lone opposition MP on the body, BNP’s AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, demanded that all 138 foreign deals signed over last four years be placed in the Parliament.
He pointed out that the constitution required the government to place all agreements with foreign countries in the parliament so that the people can learn about them. The BNP MP also reportedly told the 10-member strong standing committee that “violation” of the guidelines was another example of the government’s “disrespect” for parliament and standing committees.
“According to the constitution, the government must place all the foreign agreements in parliament. But the government has not placed any of the deals either in the House or at the parliamentary standing committee,” Khokon told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting at the parliament building.
“We [the opposition] could have discussed the agreements, if they were placed before the parliamentary watchdog,” he added.
The body’s member and ruling Awami League MP, Imran Ahmed, told the Dhaka Tribune that the opposition demand was not “fair” as the previous BNP government had also not placed foreign deals before the parliament.
On March 6, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in the parliament that her government has signed 25 pacts with India, 13 with South Korea, 12 with China and Belarus, 11 with Turkey, nine with Russia, seven with Kuwait, six with Japan, four each with Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, two each with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Jordan, Ukraine, Greece, South Sudan and Myanmar.
The US, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, North Korea, Rwanda and Switzerland had each signed one deal with Bangladesh.
The opposition MP also said the foreign ministry had ‘failed’ to lodge protests against the killing of Bangladeshi nationals at the country’s borders.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, another member of the committee, skirted the question of opposition demand and briefed the committee on the problems of her ministry.
The watchdog’s 15th meeting focused on issues of Bangladeshi workers recruited abroad. It was pointed out that the foreign ministry had failed to take the necessary measures for the repatriation of Bangladeshis, stranded in different countries due to fund shortages.
“Our missions have no funds to help the stranded Bangladeshis,” said the foreign minister.
The meeting finally recommended the formation of a special fund by the prime minister at all Bangladeshi missions abroad to urgently address the issue of emergency repatriation of the stranded Bangladeshis.
Begum Nilufer Zafar Ullah, the committee chairman, presided over the meeting attended by Md Emaj Uddin Pramani, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Nazma Akhter and Nasrul Hamid.
