Commission has no authority to implement July Charter: Ali Riaz
Professor Ali Riaz, vice-president of the National Consensus Commission, has said that the Commission has no authority to implement the July Charter.
Addressing political parties, he stated that the Commission would not impose anything regarding the implementation of the July Charter.
The Commission itself does not have the power to enforce it. What the commission can do is hold discussions with all the political parties and then inform the government. "We are following that process," he added.
The National Consensus Commission is holding a meeting with political parties at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital Today, Thursday, to determine ways to implement the reform-related recommendations included in the July Charter.
Around 30 political parties, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, NCP and Islami Andolan took part in the discussion with the Consensus Commission. Ali Riaz made these remarks at the beginning of the meeting.
Professor Ali Riaz said, "In the last round of talks, we were able to reach agreement on certain points, including the note of dissent. We shared a draft of that with you (the political parties), and you gave your feedback. There have also been some discussions regarding the declaration. Hopefully, the final draft will be delivered by this afternoon."
Ali Riaz noted that the process of implementing the July Charter had already been discussed several times.
He added, “We formed a panel of experts to review the implementation process of the July Charter, and we held several rounds of discussions. This panel included two former judges, three lawyers, and a law professor.”
“At one point of the panel discussion, I requested the Attorney General to join in, and he did. The legal adviser also joined a meeting. Based on the opinions of the expert panel and political parties, we realised that certain provisions of the July Charter could be implemented by the interim government,” he continued.
Ali Riaz emphasised, “We do not intend to take any decision on behalf of the commission regarding the implementation of the July Charter. What we want is to make recommendations to the government for the implementation of the July Charter, based on discussions with the expert panel and political parties.”
The meeting moderated by Monir Haider, special assistant to the chief adviser (National Consensus Commission) was attended by commission members Justice Emdadul Hoque, Badiul Alam Majumdar, Iftekharuzzaman, and Ayub Mia.