DHAKA, 13 May 2004 — Bangladesh’s main opposition Awami League called off a year-long boycott of Parliament yesterday — its 58 lawmakers returning in time to vote on new legislation introduced by the 300-seat assembly.
The party’s members walked out in June 2003, accusing speaker Jamiruddin Sircar of refusing them time to speak. Later they added other complaints to their reasons for walking out.
The Awami League, headed by former prime minister Hasina Wajed, rejected several requests to return, but eventually bowed to a recent government warning that absentee seats would be declared vacant.
Officials said the ruling 220-seat Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies have now almost finished drafting several constitutional amendments which are due to be voted on next week.
Awami League deputy leader Abdul Hamid told reporters on Tuesday that the party wanted to be in Parliament to contribute to the debate on the amendments. Political analysts said party insiders put pressure on Awami League legislators to end the boycott after attempts at civic unrest to bring down the government failed.
Meanwhile, the annual number of acid attacks recorded in Bangladesh have shown their first drop in four years, although it was too early to tell if the downward trend would continue, a rights group said yesterday.
Figures compiled by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation showed the number of people attacked dropped from 485 in 2002 to 410 in 2003. The majority of victims are young women who are left disfigured when rejected suitors throw acid on their faces.
It is the first fall in acid attacks since the organization began keeping records in mid-1999. Foundation spokeswoman Mahbuba Haque gave the reduction a cautious welcome but said only a figure of zero would be acceptable.
