The Jatiya Sangsad on Monday said that Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed could go to the Press Council or take legal action against the Inqilab for misquoting him, which had led to an unscheduled discussion in the House where the lawmakers had censured him.
Deputy speaker Shawkat Ali, after the question-answer session, said, ‘There was a discussion in the Parliament yesterday over some remarks of Abdullah Abu
Sayeed published in Inqilab. Sayeed in a statement published in today’s Samakal claimed he had not said what was printed in Inqilab. He can complain to the Press Council or take legal action against Inqilab.’
In the morning, Shawkat Ali said that the Parliament should not have discussed the statement of Abdullah Abu Sayeed on Sunday. He said that he would have killed the discussion at the start had he been present.
‘Holding a discussion in the Parliament about an honourable person like him (Sayeed), based on a newspaper report and without knowing the facts, was not the right decision,’ he said. ‘A lawmaker can make a mistake, but three of them should not make the same mistake.’
Lawmakers, especially from the ruling Awami League, censured Sayeed for ‘passing sweeping comments about lawmakers and ministers which was tantamount to contempt of the House’.
Ali Ashraf, a panel chairman who was conducting the proceedings in the absence of the speaker and deputy speaker on Sunday, was of the opinion that Sayeed could be asked to come to Parliament to apologise for what he had said at a discussion organised by Transparency International Bangladesh on Saturday.