Commission may recommend ‘Constitutional Order’ for July Charter: Ali Riaz

National Consensus Commission vice-chairman Professor Ali Riaz said the commission may recommend the government to issue a “Constitutional Order” to implement the constitutional recommendations of the July National Charter 2025.

“Experts have provided a consolidated opinion, recommending that the government may issue a “Constitutional Order” based on the 22-point declaration of July Charter to implement the charter’s constitutional recommendations, and that order may later receive final approval from the people through a referendum,” he said.

Ali Riaz said this while speaking to newspersons after the third day of talks with political parties at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.

He said, “The experts had earlier suggested two alternatives—referendum and constitutional order—but at this stage they have come up with this final opinion.”

According to their proposal, a Constitutional Order could be promulgated to implement the Charter’s constitutional recommendations, and that order may later receive final approval from the people through a referendum, he said, adding, “The referendum, as mentioned in the proposed Constitutional Order, would be held on the same day along with the next national election.”

Justice Md Emdadul Haque, Iftekharuzzaman, Badiul Alam Majumdar, Md Ayub Mia, and Monir Haider, special assistant to the chief adviser involved in the consensus-building process were also present during the briefing.

Prof Riaz informed that political parties were apprised of the experts’ opinion on Wednesday. “Several political parties also suggested seeking the opinion of the Supreme Court under Article 106 of the Constitution, though there were differing views on the matter,” he said.

Expressing optimism, Prof Ali Riaz said political parties would continue discussions among themselves and eventually reach a minimum level of understanding on the implementation of the July Charter.

Representatives from around 30 political parties, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Ganosamhati Andolon, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Revolutionary Workers Party, and Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party, took part in yesterday’s discussion with the commission.