Dhaka, Feb. 17 -- Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers have taken their oath as members of the 13th national parliament, despite earlier threatening to boycott the ceremony after the BNP declined to be sworn in as members of the Constitution Reform Council.

Jamaat MPs and independents began taking the oath shortly after noon on Tuesday at the parliament's oath chamber.

Among those seen in the front row were Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, party leaders ATM Azhar, Mujibur Rahman and Abdullah Mohammad Taher, along with former BNP leader and independent MP Rumeen Farhana.

The newly elected members signed the oath register at 12:24pm.

Rumeen, however, left the oath chamber at 12:26pm without taking the separate pledge as a member of the Constitution R...