Speaker Dr Shirin Meets Congressman Steve Chabot

UsaNewsOnline.com : Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury met with influential Republican Congressman Steve Chabot (Ohio) at his office in the Capitol Hill on Tuesday and discussed wide range of subjects that envisaged the current stable political situation, ongoing trial of the war criminals, economic advancement and women empowerment in Bangladesh.

Speaker Chaudhury came to Washington DC to attend the two-day Global Parliamentary Conference 2015 held on April 12-13 at the World Bank Headquarters.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin accompanied the Speaker.

During the meeting that last for nearly half an-hour from 2pm, the Speaker told the US Congressman that normal life and economic activities were restored in Bangladesh after three months’ deadly violence orchestrated by BNP and its partner Jamaat e Islami. She said the people of Bangladesh completely discarded violent street agitation, road blockade and strike and hated systematic killing by the BNP-Jamaat alliance. The Speaker said the people in Dhaka and Chittagong are now enthusiastically participating in the electioneering for the city corporation elections slated for April 28.

Congressman Chabot who is the chairman of the subcommittee on Small Business expressed happiness at the return of peace in Bangladesh and holding of the city corporation elections.

On the current trial of 1971 war criminals by the International Crimes Tribunals (ICTs), the Speaker said the government has maintained due process and international standard in holding the trial of the criminals who committed genocide and crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. She said a person convicted by the ICT has given the right to appeal against the verdict of ICT in the Appellate Division, which is unprecedented in other international crimes tribunals. Even a death row convict in Bangladesh can seek clemency from the President of the Republic.

The Speaker said the trial of the war criminals had been pending for long and it was being held to fulfil the expectation of the people of Bangladesh.  She also mentioned that the self-confessed killers of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were tried in open court and punished in a bid to end the culture of impunity.

On the post-MDGs roadmap Dr. Shirin stressed the role of parliamentarians in implementing the post-MDG Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Chabot who earlier visited Dhaka and met the Speaker praised the current social and economic development alongside the women’s growing empowerment in Bangladesh. The Congressman also congratulated the Speaker on her election as the chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.