DHAKA, April 18, 2020 (BSS) – President M Abdul Hamid today prorogued the 11th session of the Jatiya Sangsad a little over an hour after it was called to session to comply with the constitutional obligations despite nationwide COVID-19 shutdown.
“I, President Mohammad Abdul Hamid in line with the power vested upon me by the Constitution . . . order the prorogation of the session called due to constitutional obligations,” Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury quoted as saying the presidential order.
The president said the prorogation was ordered following the brief session to evade public gatherings in people’s interest in view of the novel coronavirus situation.
The session began at 5 pm and ended at 6.15 pm while Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the assembly of lawmakers who sat in the chamber maintaining COVID-19 guidelines for physical distancing.
“Honourable President (M Abdul Hamid) convened the session due to constitutional obligations (amid COVID-19 shutdown) . . . the session will be very brief,” Chaudhury said in her opening statement after recitations from the Holy Quran.
The proceedings began with a condolence motion for the victims of the COVID-19 fatalities in the country including Dr Moinuddin Ahmed of Sylhet Osmany Medical College Hospital and others elsewhere across the world.
Simultaneously the Speaker named several prominent persons including sitting lawmaker and former land minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif and eight other former lawmakers who died since the last Sangsad session was prorogued.
In an unprecedented parliamentary practice, the Speaker urged the House leader to make her valedictory speech simultaneously with her opening statement and comments on the condolence motion saying she received by now the presidential order to prorogue the session.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Jatiya Ssangsad Secretariat handout said that the 7th session of the House, the second session in 2020, was summoned at 5 pm on April 18.
“It’s been decided that the session will be ‘very short’ considering the safety of life of all due to the countrywide outbreak of global pandemic coronavirus,” the handout said.
It simultaneously urged newsmen to cover the session watching the ‘Sangsad Bangladesh Television’ instead of going to parliament physically.
The speaker in her concluding address urged the lawmakers as well as the countrymen to follow the COVID-19 halth guidelines including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 31-ponit directives to prevent further spread of epidemic.
She prayed for eternal peace of the departed souls of those people who died of COVID-19 and wished early recovery of the people infected with the virus.
Chaudhury thanked the Premier, Opposition Leader, MPs including whips, JS Secretariat and other concerned officials and employees including law enforcement agency personnel and fire servicemen and newsmen for their assistance in holding the session in an unusual situation.