It is said that marriage is about sparks flying, but for Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, the sparks in his in-laws' hometown of Sunamganj are getting a bit too literal for comfort.
In a rare moment of parliamentary levity on Monday, the Speaker jokingly questioned his own life choices during a serious discussion on the escalating threat of lightning strikes in Bangladesh’s northeastern haor regions.
The comedic interlude struck during a notice brought forward by Sunamganj-1 MP Kamruzzaman Kamrul.
Australian Speaker Milton Dick meets Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad
Kamrul, armed with data from NASA and the University of Maryland, pointed out that the haor region was identified as a global epicenter for lightning strikes, noting that eight people had died just the day before.
Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu assured the House that the government is treating the electrifying situation with the utmost importance.
However, it was the Speaker who delivered the punchline.
Reflecting on the terrifying scientific data provided by the MP, a deadpan Hafiz Uddin Ahmed remarked, "If I had known there was so much lightning in Sunamganj—that it strikes quite so often—I would never have gotten married there!"
While the House shared a laugh, the message remained serious: the government is now under pressure to ensure that the only things striking in Sunamganj are the Speaker's witty remarks, not the weather.