AL lawmakers raised the demand at a press conference held at AL's Dhanmondi office. They asked the parliamentary standing committee on home ministry to convene immediately a meeting. The parliamentary body has not had a meeting in last three months, ignoring the Rules of Procedure of parliament.

The AL deputies said the speaker's not asking the committee to hold meeting amounts to flouting the constitution.

According to the Rules of Procedure, parliamentary bodies are obliged to hold meeting at least once in a month and if a committee fails to do so, the speaker has the power to intervene to arrange such meetings.

The parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliamentary affairs at a meeting held in camera on July 21 blasted the law minister for not giving appropriate opinion on examining the documents on Jhintu for presidential pardon.

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed at the same meeting accused the home ministry of concealing facts in preparing the case summary.

Professor Mohammad Shahjahan Mia, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, admitted that there was no meeting of the committee since April 28 and said, "It was not held due to various preoccupations of the committee members."

Besides, the state minister for home affairs was busy, Shahjahan, also a ruling BNP lawmaker, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He however said he would soon convene a meeting in consultation with Lutfozzaman Babar, the state minister for home. "Though agenda of the next meeting has already been fixed, we will still consider the opposition lawmakers' demand for discussion on the pardon issue," he added.

Deteriorating law and order situation, coupled with the home ministry's 'shady role' in the presidential pardon to double-murder convict Jhintu, has made the ministry shy of holding the meeting, alleged the AL lawmakers.

"We will ask the home ministry to place before us the file that had been prepared for Jhintu's pardon and sent to the law ministry," AL lawmaker and former home minister Mohammad Nasim told the press briefing.

He said the government had appeared to be afraid of discussing also the August 21 grenade attacks, and the killing of former foreign minister Shah AMS Kibria in the parliamentary watchdog body.

"Despite repeated contacts with the chairman of the committee, I haven't yet got any response, " Nasim said, adding the government skip the meeting because they do not want to be brought to account for the 'wrongs' they have done.

He also told the reporters that a letter has been sent to the speaker, calling for his intervention to hold meeting of the standing committee on home affairs.

Ministries of home affairs and law, in conjunction with the Prime Minister's Office, have orchestrated the presidential mercy to Jhintu, alleged the AL lawmaker. They demanded documents regarding the controversial mercy to be made public.

Senior AL lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta said, "The speaker has failed to discharge his constitutional obligation by not arranging the parliamentary meeting though the rules of procedure empowers him to do so."

He said it rests with the speaker to look into whether the standing committees are running properly or not.

Speaking at the briefing, senior AL leader Tofail Ahmed alleged that Jhintu had managed to have the mercy through underhand dealings. "He (Jhintu) would not have come home had he not got a green signal from the government high-ups," he said.

"Mercy was granted in exchange for huge sums of money, not in a legal process," he alleged.