Prominent journalist and former editor of daily Bangladesh Pratidin Naeem Nizam in a post given on his verified Facebook account has described a discussed phenomenon of the parliamentary politics of post-nineties Bangladesh. In the post given on Thursday (May 14), he claimed that despite the political tension, there was a political culture of mutual respect, dialogue and crisis resolution between the government and the opposition at that time.
In the post, he detailed an incident involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, late politician Syed Iskandar and Mahfuz Anam.
According to Naeem Nizam, the 1991 to 1996 parliament was lively, so was the mutual respect between the government and the opposition. Despite political differences between the two leaders, there was a culture of compromise and discussion between them on various important issues.
He mentioned that once the two children of Syed Iskandar got into an argument with the Awami League leaders while passing in front of Dhanmondi number 32. It is alleged that at that time some security personnel physically assaulted them. Later, when the matter came to light, then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia got angry and ordered to take legal action.
The post claimed that Sheikh Hasina was out of Dhaka at the time of the incident. After returning to Dhaka, he took action against those concerned and took the initiative to express his grief personally. According to Naeem Nizam’s account, Sheikh Hasina along with some senior leaders of Awami League and Mahfuz Anam went to Saeed Iskandar’s house and comforted the two children.
The post also said that the situation was handled through discussion so that the whole incident did not turn into a misunderstanding or political tension. Later, the matter did not turn into a major political conflict.
This post of Naeem Nizam has created a lot of discussion on social media. Many are comparing the political culture of the 90s with the politics of today. The issue of personal communication, dialogue and humane behavior has come into renewed discussion, especially among political opponents.
