Gonoforum signed the July National Charter 2025 on Sunday, two days after 24 political parties endorsed the reform-centric document in a ceremony at South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad.
With Gonoforum, 25 political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, have so far endorsed the July Charter till Sunday.
The National Citizen Party, which did not sign the charter and boycotted the signing ceremony on October 17, would submit a fresh proposal to the National Consensus Commission soon for the revision of the document.
The NCP may endorse the charter if the consensus commission considers its proposal to revise the charter, a central leader of the party said.
The consensus commission, however, said on Sunday that incorporating a fresh proposal from the NCP would be difficult.
Besides the NCP, four left-leaning parties and Gonoforum did not sign the charter during the signing ceremony hosted by the interim government and the consensus commission at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad in Dhaka.
The NCP argued that the charter lacked clear implementation guidelines, while the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod, and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist) protested against the charter鈥檚 contents, including the prologue, a provision for 鈥榬eplacing鈥� the existing four fundamental principles of the state and the covenant.
Gonoforum initially refrained from signing the charter as its leaders had a misconception that the consensus commission had neglected its demand for keeping the Proclamation of Independence 1971 in the constitution.
The party leaders decided to sign the charter as they saw the commission had already met their demand by correcting the charter before the signing ceremony.
On Sunday, Gonoforum executive president Subrata Chowdhury and general secretary Mizanur Rahman signed the charter at the LD Hall of the Jatiya Sangsad.
National Consensus Commission vice-chair Professor Ali Riaz, members Badiul Alam Majumder, Safar Raj Hossain, Iftekharuzzaman, and the chief adviser鈥檚 special assistant for reforms, Monir Haidar, Gonoforum leaders AKM Jaglul Haider Afrik, Sagarika Islam and Mirza Hassan were present.
NCC vice-chair Ali Riaz thanked Gonoforum and said that the party鈥檚 endorsement, along with the support of the party president Kamal Hossain, the chair of the 1972 constitution formulation committee, would strengthen the ongoing state reforms.
Regarding the NCP鈥檚 demand, Ali Riaz said that the commission would recommend the charter鈥檚 legal foundation and its execution mechanism before October 31.
Ali Riaz said that incorporating the new proposals into the July Charter would be very difficult, as that would require meeting with other political parties, which had already signed the charter, once again.
鈥楽uch a move would prolong the charter implementation process,鈥� Ali Riaz said.
The NCP would consider signing the charter if the commission takes a fresh proposal for revision of the charter into consideration, the party鈥檚 joint secretary Javed Rasin said on Saturday.
Commission officials said that they would soon release an implementation roadmap for the charter.
The roadmap may include the issuance of a special order to facilitate a referendum for giving the next parliament the power to adopt the charter in the constitution.
They added that the commission would swiftly submit its recommendations, once completed, to the government so that it, too, can initiate the implementation of the charter by October 31, the commission鈥檚 third extended tenure.
