All the 30 political parties attending the National Consensus Commission鈥檚 second-round dialogue session on Sunday agreed that the president must seek cabinet approval to declare a state of emergency, also involving the main or deputy opposition leader in the decision-making process.
The parties also agreed on appointing the senior-most judge of the Appellate Division as the chief justice, subject to the fulfilment of the qualifications articulated in the constitution鈥檚 article 96. According to the article, a person cannot qualify for the chief justice post if he or she is investigated and found guilty of misconduct or being incapable as a judge.
However, the parties advocating for appointing the chief justice from among the two most senior Appellate Division judges may mention this option in their respective election manifestos, the commission said.聽
Despite several revised proposals, the parties could not reach a consensus on聽 the appointment of the chief adviser to the proposed caretaker government.
Chaired by NCC vice-chair Professor Ali Riaz, the 30 political parties attended the 12th-day session of the dialogue at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.聽聽聽
The Sunday session began with a briefing by Ali Riaz, who mentioned that the parties had earlier agreed on an amendment to the constitution鈥檚 article 141A, related to the emergency provisions.
As per the agreement, the president shall require the cabinet鈥檚 approval for an emergency declaration if he or she is convinced that the country is facing external aggression, or a war-like situation, or its sovereignty and territorial integrity are under threat, or there exists any large-scale disaster or pandemic.
The parties also agreed that a state of emergency must uphold the citizens鈥� right to life and their rights to trial and punishment, as enshrined in article 35, shall not be curtailed except in any circumstances subject to article 47A.聽
Article 35 safeguards the legal rights of individuals accused of criminal offences, including their protection from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. However, article 47A, in reference to article 47, excludes persons accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes from the protections guaranteed under article 35.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, National Citizen Party joint convener Javed Rasin, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh general secretary Saiful Huq, Islami Andolan Bangladesh presidium member Ashraf Ali Akon, and Khelafat Majlish secretary general Ahmed Abdul Kader, among others, spoke on the issue.
The session鈥檚 next agenda was the appointment of the chief justice. The attending parties, as they were divided in the previous sessions on July 7 and 10, remained so on whether the most senior Appellate Division judge or one of the two most senior AD judges should be appointed as the chief justice.
The Jamaat, NCP, Nagorik Oikya, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, among some other parties, strongly favoured the first option while the BNP, CPB, Gano Adhikar Parishad, Aamar Bangladesh Party, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), Ganosamhati Andolan, and RWPB, among others, voted for the second option.聽
After a series of arguments, all the parties agreed that the president should appoint the senior most Appellate Division judge as the chief justice on the condition that he or she was not being investigated or found guilty of misconduct or was incapable of holding the post of a judge.
Moreover, there was a broad agreement that parties advocating for the appointment of the chief justice from among the two most senior judges might include this option in their respective election manifestos and implement the option if they had mandates from the voters.
Regarding the appointment of the chief adviser to the caretaker government, the consensus commission placed a revised proposal reflecting the parties鈥� recommendations during the previous sessions.
According to the new proposal, the president may appoint the chief adviser as recommended by a parliamentary search committee, comprising lower house鈥檚 three members of the treasury bench, three members of the main opposition, one appointed by the president, and six members of the upper house.
In case there is no consensus on the proposed bicameral parliament, the seven members of the lower house would nominate one person for the chief adviser post, said the proposal.
The Jamaat鈥檚 Taher, among several other politicians, strongly opposed the commission鈥檚 proposal, saying that it was biased towards the ruling party.
During the debate, the BNP鈥檚 Salahuddin proposed a new formula to choose an eligible chief adviser.
The president may appoint a person, whose eligibilities are set by article 58(C) of the constitution鈥檚 13th amendment, recommended either by an all-parliamentary committee, or by a body comprising the prime minister, main opposition leader, speaker and deputy speaker of the unicameral parliament, or by the parliamentary parties having 5 per cent of the total votes casted, he said,
Salahuddin added that if the aforementioned processes did not work, the president might appoint the last chief justice or the second-last chief justice as the chief adviser, or the president himself might assume the role -- if all the processes failed, as stipulated in the 13th amendment.
There should be a last option if the majority of the parties oppose the president as the chief adviser, he said. He, however, did not provide any last option.
While some parties backed the NCC proposal and some the BNP proposal, the Jamaat strongly opposed both.
Jamaat assistant secretary general Hamidur Rahman Azad referred to his party鈥檚 separate proposal for setting up a search committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, and the chief justice.
However, he said that his party would place a revised proposal in the upcoming session.
Without any consensus on the issue, the commission vice-chair adjourned the dialogue for today.
