Constitution amendment committee: Parties invited for talks today; opposition to stay away
The special committee of the National Parliament on constitutional amendments will hold discussions today, Sunday, with leaders of the political parties and alliances that signed the July National Charter.
Representatives of all 26 parties and alliances that signed the charter have been invited. However, several parties, including the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP), are not taking part in the discussions, sources said.
According to sources in the special committee, its second meeting will be held at 2:30pm today in the Cabinet Room of the Parliament building. The discussions with the political parties and alliances will be held as part of that meeting.
One item on the agenda is “discussions between the committee and the leaders of the political parties and alliances that signed the July National Charter”. Two representatives at the level of party president and secretary general have already been invited from each party and alliance.
The special committee held its first meeting on 4 August. At that meeting, it decided to consult political parties, constitutional experts, lawyers, media editors and other stakeholders.
Today’s discussion is being held as part of that process. Representatives of the parties and alliances have been asked to present their views on constitutional amendments.
The opposition, however, supports the formation of a Constitutional Reform Council to implement the constitutional reform proposals in the July National Charter in accordance with the referendum verdict.
Since such a council has not been formed, the opposition does not want to participate in any government initiative relating to constitutional amendments. It also did not nominate representatives to the special committee on constitutional amendments.
The opposition’s 11-party alliance, led by Jamaat-e-Islami and the NCP, includes several parties that have no representation in parliament. Those parties also do not want to participate in the constitutional amendment process in any way. As a result, they are unlikely to take part in today’s discussions. Sources concerned said another two or three parties may also stay away.
The July National Charter was drafted during the interim government’s tenure after consultations with 30 political parties and alliances on reforms in various areas of the state. Constitutional experts were also consulted at the time. Four left-leaning parties did not sign the charter. In total, 26 political parties and alliances signed it. Eight of them are now part of the 11-party alliance.
AB Party chairman Mojibur Rahman Monju, a member of the 11-party alliance, told Prothom Alo that they had received an invitation but had decided not to attend. He said they believed a Constitutional Reform Council should have been formed in accordance with the referendum verdict. “It was not right to form a special committee instead of doing that,” he said.
Of the 84 reform proposals in the July National Charter, 48 concern the Constitution. To implement these proposals, the interim government issued the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order. A referendum on the reform proposals was held alongside the parliamentary election. As the “Yes” side won, the order provides for the formation of a Constitutional Reform Council comprising members of the 13th Parliament and for the constitutional reform process to be completed within 180 working days.
However, after BNP formed the government, it did not establish the Constitutional Reform Council. Its MPs also did not take an oath as members of the council. Instead, on 13 July, parliament formed a 12-member special committee on constitutional amendments, with Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed as its chairman. The opposition was asked to nominate five representatives to the committee, but it did not do so. The opposition also rejected the committee.
Sources in the special committee said the ruling party had hoped that the opposition would nominate representatives during the third session of parliament, which ended on 10 September. In the end, however, the opposition did not nominate anyone. Against this backdrop, the special committee is now preparing to begin its work in full.
NCP Member Secretary Akhter Hossain told Prothom Alo yesterday, Saturday afternoon, that he did not know at the time whether the NCP had been invited because he was taking part in a long march. However, he said the referendum had already determined how constitutional reform should be carried out. The Constitutional Reform Council had not been formed in accordance with that verdict, he said. “If the Constitution is amended through the conventional process, the crisis will not be resolved,” he said.
He added that when the special committee was formed in parliament, the NCP had told the government that it would not participate in such a committee. “If there is a discussion about forming a Constitutional Reform Council, we will take part in that,” he said.