Opposition bluffed in passage of bill

The now void fifth amendment to the constitution was passed in parliament in 1979 as a “precondition” for the withdrawal of martial law presided over by General Ziaur Rahman.
Shah Azizur Rahman, then leader of the house, used the ruse to try to have the opposition lawmakers join the treasury bench members in rubber-stamping the amendment bill.
Though few in number, the opposition MPs did not budge. In protest, they staged a walkout before the passage of the bill, designed to validate all actions and acts of the military regime, including the notorious Indemnity Ordinance that ensured protection from prosecution for the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members.
Shah Aziz blasted the opposition MPs for their criticism of the bill and branded them as the "enemy of democracy."
On several occasions, he argued that the opposition members were against a restoration of democracy in the country.
Records of parliament proceedings show that he defended the amendment bill by saying that democracy would be restored once the bill was passed.
Allegedly a collaborator of the Pakistan army in 1971 (he led the Pakistan delegation to the UN General Assembly session in September 1971, at the height of Bangladesh's Liberation War), Shah Aziz tabled the fifth amendment bill in parliament on April 4, 1979.
The opposition MPs then had said the bill sought to indemnify all regime actions and deeds between August 15, 1975 and April 9, 1979 by precluding the court's jurisdiction to look into any matter of that period.
The House witnessed pandemonium several times, as the opposition lawmakers were making stormy and noisy protests against the then BNP-led government's move to pass the bill during the session.
Shah Aziz, who was picked as leader of the House by the then president and chief martial law administrator Ziaur Rahman, then used the parliament floor to bluff the people.
He claimed that the bill needed to be passed for the withdrawal of martial law.
He trashed opposition MPs' attacks, vehemently supported the bill and appreciated the then President Ziaur Rahman, who later appointed him prime minister.
"The country will identify the MPs walking out as the enemy of democracy," Shah Aziz said prior to the passage of the bill.
"I am holding out the assurance that martial law will be withdrawn after the passage of the bill. But they [opposition MPs] do not believe in democracy. That is why they are opposing the bill," said Shah Aziz.
Before walking out, leader of the opposition and Awami League leader Asaduzzaman Khan said the amendment would spell disaster for the nation.
"They [treasury bench] will be responsible if this law creates anarchy. We will not take any responsibility for it since they are determined to pass it. We cannot stay in the House. So, we are staging a walkout," said Asaduzzaman Khan before leading the opposition MPs out of the House.
The opposition MPs represented the Awami League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Jatiya League, Samyabadi Dal, National Awami Party (NAP) and Gonotantrik Andolon.
After the walkout, the House on April 5 passed the fifth amendment bill by 241-0 votes, which also ratified the Indemnity Ordinance promulgated by Zia's predecessor Khandaker Mustaque Ahmed.
Mustaque had seized state power immediately after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by putting the country under martial law.
The only aim of the ordinance issued on September 26, 1975, was to block any legal or other proceedings against the killers of Bangabandhu and his family, and those who were involved in proclaiming martial law on the morning of August 15, 1975.
PARLIAMENT UNDER MARTIAL LAW!
The second parliament constituted in 1979 went into session on April 2 when martial law was still in force.
In fact, the second parliamentary election was held under the martial law regime in which the BNP, led by then president Zia, won a two-thirds majority.
It was a peculiar situation when president Gen Zia addressed the House on April 2.
He had commandeered the presidency unconstitutionally and was later elected in a farcical election in June 1978. He was still chief martial law administrator at the time.
At the second sitting on April 4, 1979, the House took up an obituary motion on the deaths of some renowned persons. The way the condolence motion described the death of Bangabandhu proved the regime's utter negligence towards him.
"Due to a major shift in politics in 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ended up being killed," said the condolence motion without saying anything about how he was killed along with almost all his family members.
The condolence motion did not mention the names of Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the Bangladesh government in exile in 1971, Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister of the same government, M Mansur Ali, finance minister, and AHM Qamaruzzaman, minister for home affairs, relief and rehabilitation.
It neither mentioned anything about the heinous assassination of the country's four Liberation War heroes. The four were killed in captivity by some army officers on November 3, 1975.
The inaugural session of the House had only five sittings and its major business was passing the constitution amendment bill, according to the proceedings of that session.
HURRIEDLY PLACED AND PASSED
After a few minutes of discussion on the condolence motion, Shah Aziz, who joined the BNP after ditching his political party, the Muslim League, moved on to place the fifth amendment bill.
As soon as he had begun, opposition MPs interrupted him. The then leader of the opposition, Asaduzzaman Khan, took the floor and challenged the legality of the way Shah Aziz was going to place the bill.
Shah Aziz did not serve a notice seven days prior to placing the bill as per rules of procedure of the House. "We don't know if you [Speaker] waived it [the mandatory provision]."
Citing the orders of the day, Awami League MP Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury said, "We don't know whether Shah Azizur Rahman was sworn in as prime minister or not. But the orders of the day show he is the prime minister."
In response to Mizanur, Speaker Mirza Golam Hafiz said the orders of the day were amended to replace the word “prime minister” with “leader of the House”.
NAP MP Suranjit Sengupta, now an Awami League leader and lawmaker, said martial law was being made part of the constitution very cleverly through the amendment.
Drawing the speaker's attention to Article 142 of the constitution, which deals with the procedure of the constitutional amendment, Suranjit said the way the bill was prepared showed that it had gone against article 142.
Some other opposition MPs also strongly protested the way the bill was placed but their objections were overruled by voice vote.
The Speaker suspended a section of the rules of procedure that required giving notice prior to a placing of the bill and allowed Shah Aziz to go ahead.
The next day, on April 5, 1979, opposition MPs started protesting the bill by launching a verbal attack against it.
Awami League MPs Col (retd) Shawkat Ali, Abdul Matin Mia, Jatiya League MP Ataur Rahman Khan, NAP lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta, JSD MP Shahjahan Siraj and some others proposed publicising the bill to elicit people's opinion on it following the parliamentary process.
A number of the opposition MPs also proposed forming a select committee to scrutinise the bill.
While placing their proposals, the opposition MPs also strongly criticised the martial law regime.
But all their proposals were rejected by voice vote as the BNP had a two-thirds majority in the House.
The proposal for accepting the bill to consider for passage was also put up for vote. The treasury bench won that vote 243:45. Before Shah Aziz proposed the passage of the bill, the opposition MPs staged their walkout. In their absence, the bill was passed with 241:0 votes.
Returning to power after 21 years, the Awami League-led government in 1996 scrapped the heinous Indemnity Ordinance of 1975, clearing the way for the trial of Bangabandhu's killers.
The High Court in 2005 declared the constitution's fifth amendment illegal and void and the verdict was upheld by the Appellate Division in 2010.
Gen HM Ershad, who grabbed state power in 1982, also abused parliament to indemnify his regime by passing the constitution seventh amendment bill in 1986.
The seventh amendment too was declared illegal and void by the country's apex court later on.