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Bangladesh's opposition to end parliament boycott

Other News Materials 22 February 2009 20:45 (UTC +04:00)

Bangladesh's mainstream opposition parties Sunday said they would to return to Parliament, ending their 16-day boycott of parliamentary proceedings.

"We have decided to return to this session at the earliest," opposition alliance chief whip Zainul Abedin Farruk said after a meeting of the parliamentary wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, dpa reports.

Thirty-one lawmakers of the BNP-led alliance have stayed away from parliament over a seating arrangement row in the House since January 28.

They walked out of the second sitting of the ninth parliament, which came into being through landmark elections in late December, after Parliament's new Speaker Abdul Hamid pushed four of the opposition lawmakers to back benches.

Farruk said the opposition lawmakers decided to return after Hamid assured then of a "respectable" solution.

Bangladesh returned in December to a democratic process after two years under a military-backed government. 

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