Lawmaker Hasnat Abdullah has raised serious concerns in the National Parliament over the practice of tabling starred questions rather than taking them up orally, warning that the move is stripping members of their right to hold ministers accountable and reducing parliament to little more than a rehearsed monologue.
Rising on a point of order during Sunday's parliamentary session, the Cumilla-4 constituency lawmaker said that for the past two weeks, questions marked for oral answers have been silently tabled without any live ministerial response, denying members the opportunity to ask follow-up questions.
"For a functional parliament, it is essential that members can directly question ministers and receive answers on the floor," he said. "Are we to turn parliament into nothing but a scripted session?"
Hasnat also raised the arrest of a man named Hasan Inam under Section 25 of the Cyber Security Act, reportedly for sharing a cartoon or satirical meme.
He noted that Section 25 is primarily intended for cases involving sexual harassment, and questioned how sharing a meme could fall under that provision. "Even during the Hasina era, people were arrested for cartoons. We never imagined this would happen in the post-uprising period," he said, calling the law's application a tool for suppressing dissent.
In response to the question hour complaint, the Chief Whip partially conceded the opposition member's point, acknowledging that question hour is a right of all members.
He explained, however, that the tabling decision was driven by a tight legislative schedule, as the opposition leader had proposed 50 hours of debate on the presidential address, of which only 12 hours have been completed with the session due to close by the 30th.
He added that if members agreed to sit until 10pm, the government would prefer oral answers and was committed to accountability.
On the cartoon-related arrest, the Chief Whip said he was personally unaware it was his complaint that had led to the arrest, as he had filed general diary entries at various police stations on behalf of the party �" not personally �" over what he described as widespread misinformation and smear campaigns.
He nonetheless stated unambiguously on the floor of parliament: "If someone has been arrested because of a cartoon drawn of me, I request through you that he be released. I have also posted about this on Facebook today."
The Chief Whip, however, expressed suspicion about the arrested individual's other activities, saying investigators should determine whether he was involved in other cyber offences or money laundering beyond political satire. "If it is purely political satire or cartooning, I have no complaint. But if there is evidence of other crimes, the law must take its course," he said.
The Speaker, responding to Hasnat's privilege question, noted procedural rules require two hours' prior notice for such matters but assured the House the issue would be treated with due seriousness.
