PM, opposition leader miss parliamentary meeting on defence ministry

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is also in charge of the Ministry of Defence, and Leader of the Opposition and Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Shafiqur Rahman were absent from the second meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Defence held on Thursday, although the two had also skipped the committee’s first meeting.

While the prime minister is currently in Japan on a state visit, the leader of the opposition is now in the country and has also met a European Union delegation, Jamaat’s Assistant Secretary General Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair confirmed.

The second meeting of the committee of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad was held at the Cabinet Room of the Jatiya Sansad Bhaban with committee Chairman Md Ashraf Uddin in the chair.

The committee discussed the overall activities of the ministry and recommended that it take necessary measures to further strengthen the country’s defence system.

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Committee members and Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni, SM Jilani, Whip Mia Nuruddin Ahmed Apu, Abdus Salam Azad, Lutfur Rahman and Md Abdul Baten attended the meeting.

The defence secretary and relevant officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Parliament Secretariat were also present.

The parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Defence was formed on 10 September in the third session of the 13th Parliament. Alongside others, Shafiqur is a member of the committee. The minister-in-charge of the ministry (if he is a Member of Parliament) is also member of the committee. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is minister-in-charge of the defence ministry. The first meeting of the parliamentary committee was held on 30 September.