After the walkout, Prime Minister's Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Salauddin Quader Chowdhury explained the government restriction on Ershad's private foreign trip on Friday.

The deputies of the second largest opposition party staged the walkout at 7:15pm and after that, Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar accused them of dishonouring the Chair. The JP lawmakers did not return to the House until the end of the day's business last night.

Before the walkout, JP (Ershad) lawmaker TIM Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury took floor to say that forbidding Ershad and his family from going abroad was a clear violation of the articles 32 and 36 of the constitution that guarantee freedom of movement.

The senior JP lawmaker found the government's action a clear departure from democratic norms. He condemned the government's intervention and led all his party lawmakers to a walkout.

When Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury asked the Chair about the reason for the government restriction on Ershad and his family's visit abroad, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury came up with a rather queer explanation.

"While Ershad was president, Morshed Khan (incumbent foreign minister) and I were barred from going abroad. The reason behind the then government's barring us and the one for the recent action are same."

Chowdhury also asked the Chair to put his explanation on the record of the parliamentary proceedings.

Kader Siddiqui, another opposition lawmaker belonging to Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League, also sought an explanation for the bar.

The 11th session of the eighth parliament, which has been running without the main opposition Awami League like in three previous sessions, resumed business yesterday after a 10-day Eid recess.

Communications Minister Nazmul Huda made fun of Ershad, saying the former military dictator might have been barred from going abroad to ensure the privileges of his spouse (Rawshan Ershad) who is a lawmaker, too, are not curbed.

Rawshan Ershad, Ershad's first wife and a JP lawmaker, was not present at the House.

He and his second wife Bidisha and son Eric were to catch a Thai Airways flight on Friday to visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives but the immigration authorities at Zia International Airport barred them from boarding the plane on the excuse of "instruction from higher authorities."