The Bangladesh Nationalist Party will join discussions on implementing the July National Charter 2025 only if interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus formally invites it to any such discussion.
However, the BNP has decided not to accept the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami鈥檚 call to hold discussions on the issue, according to a member of the BNP standing committee.
The BNP leader said that the Jamaat had approached their party informally with a proposal for talks, initiated by Jamaat leader Abdullah Mohammad Taher.
The Jamaat had contacted BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir by phone, asking the BNP to join a meeting to discuss consensus-building on the聽 charter鈥檚 implementation.
The BNP standing committee, its member said, has discussed the issue and decided not to respond to the initiative, arguing that the invitation lacked proper formality and the BNP did not attend meetings convened by other political parties.
He said that if the interim administration wished to convene the talks, it could directly invite the BNP instead of contacting via other political parties.
The BNP standing committee member said that their party would join discussions only if the interim government head formally invited them.
Even in such a case, the BNP leader asserted, the party would insist on taking concrete steps to ensure that the Jatiya Sangsad elections were held on time.
He, however, said that the proposal appeared to be linked to a government agenda and questioned why another political party should invite them if the government believed that discussions were necessary.
The Jamaat began contacting a number of political parties, including the BNP, to build agreement on the execution of the charter.
Jamaat assistant secretary general Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair told 抖阴精品 on Friday that the party had tasked its nayeb-e-amir Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher and assistant secretary general Hamidur Rahman Azad with engaging other parties on the issue.
He said that Taher had spoken by phone with BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday to propose a meeting.
The two Jamaat leaders also approached several other parties, some of which expressed interest in the discussions.
The BNP-Jamaat dispute reflected deeper disagreements between the BNP and Islamic parties, including the Jamaat, over the timing of a referendum on implementing the July National Charter.
The BNP wants the referendum and the JS polls held on the same day, while the Jamaat and its allied Islamic parties strongly want holding the referendum first to provide legal force to the charter before the JS polls take place.
Tensions have grown since the National Consensus Commission submitted the reform proposals to the interim government on October 28 outlining ways to implement the July Charter.
The BNP later objected, citing inconsistencies between the October 17 charter and the version listed in the schedule attached to the NCC proposals.
Amid the differences, the interim government has urged political parties to engage among themselves to resolve outstanding issues regarding the charter or related reform proposals in a week.
The advisory council on November 2 at a meeting warned that if the parties concerned failed to reach a unified decision within a week, it would move forward on its own.
Menwhile, a BNP standing committee meeting on Thursday night discussed that the government itself could invite the party directly.
The meeting accused the interim administration of displaying partisanship by using various parties to signal its intention to hold such meetings, one of the standing committee member said.
In a statement issued after the standing committee meeting chaired by acting BNP chair Tarique Rahman, the party said that it had embraced the matters agreed within the National Consensus Commission.
The statement emphasised that the BNP had accepted all the matters, including those carrying notes of dissent, adding that it remained committed to implementing the October 17 charter in line with the constitution and the existing laws.
The statement further said that the BNP would resist any attempt to create new questions or crises over the unanimously adopted July National Charter honouring the sacrifices made during the 16-year struggle to restore democracy and the July鈥揂ugust 2024 mass uprising.
It expressed the confidence that all the political parties involved would stay united in implementing the consensus reached through extensive discussions and would not obstruct the forthcoming elections.
The party urged the interim government to take sincere and effective measures to lawfully implement the agreed elements of the charter and to ensure that the national election is held on time.
