Staff Reporter:
Jamaat-e-Islami MP Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem on Sunday questioned the postponement of a scheduled discussion in Parliament on push-ins through border and border killings.
The discussion was slated to be held under Rule 147 of the Rules of Procedure following a general mo-tion submitted by the MP.
According to the parliamentary agenda, the proposal was included for discussion during Sunday’s sitting.
In his motion, Bin Quasem said that effective measures, including necessary diplomatic and state-level initiatives, were essential to stop the growing trend of push-ins by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), border killings and the publicly declared push-in activities by the West Bengal government.
He said the issue was of significant public importance and warranted discussion in the Jatiya Sangsad in the interest of protecting the country’s sovereignty, citizens’ security and human rights.
Raising the matter on a point of order at the beginning of sitting, Ahmad said he had been officially in-formed by the Parliament’s adjournment branch that the proposal was accepted for discussion and that copies were sent to the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“However, a short while ago, I was informed by the adjournment branch that due to unavoidable cir-cumstances, the proposal, which had already been accepted and communicated to the relevant ministries, has been postponed,” he said.
The Jamaat MP questioned what could be more important than the loss of citizens’ lives and why such a significant public issue, which he said was not linked to any party agenda, had to be deferred.
He also sought clarification on when the discussion would be scheduled again.
In response, Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal said the notice was before him and described the postpone-ment as a temporary measure.
“The budget session is currently underway and we have time constraints. It is a very fundamental issue. We expect that the matter will be discussed at an appropriate time,” he said.
Parliament Secretariat sources said the Parliament’s Adjournment and Privileges Branch informed Bin Quasem through a letter on Sunday that Speaker had postponed the discussion on the notice due to una-voidable circumstances.
