Attorney general Md Asaduzzaman on Saturday said that the July National Charter 2025 and the 1972 constitution are complementary, not contradictory, as both of them reflect the nation鈥檚 long struggle for justice, freedom and democratic rights.
Asaduzzaman at a Debate for Democracy event said that the 1972 constitution was framed in the spirit of the 1971 liberation war through a political settlement and the July National Charter emerged from the blood and sacrifice of the July 2024 uprising.
The event titled 鈥楧emocracy will be protected if the July Charter is implemented鈥�, at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation in Dhaka was chaired by Debate for Democracy鈥� chairman Hassan Ahamed Chowdhury Kiron.聽
After nearly a year of dialogue with the National Consensus Commission, 24 political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, on October 17 signed the July National Charter at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad in the presence of chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
Five other parties, including the National Citizen Party that was floated by the student and youth leaders who led the uprising in February, did not participate in the event and did not sign the charter.
When a new political settlement is achieved through an uprising and social change, the spirit of that uprising becomes paramount, Asaduzzaman said.
In that context, he added, what becomes vital is not the text of the 1972 constitution, but the sacrifices, blood, and slogans of the July uprising, sacrifices of lives of 1,400 protesters, and the sufferings of 30,000 other injured victims.
鈥楽imilarly, the July National Charter 2025 is a political settlement. Compared with past settlements, it is more transparent, well-structured, and forward-looking, setting the country on a firmer path toward democracy,鈥� he said.
He acknowledged that the charter might face challenges but asserted that it would stand as a historic milestone in the nation鈥檚 legal and political evolution.
He cautioned that any attempt to obstruct the implementation of the July National Charter would cause Bangladesh to regress and appear weak.
鈥楾he future generations who inherit the responsibility of their predecessors鈥� sacrifices will carry forward the July Charter,鈥� the attorney general said.
The trials of those involved in the 2024 July atrocities will be expedited if the spirit of the July National Charter is borne in mind, he said.聽聽聽
He said that the 1972 constitution was framed under the members of the then East Pakistan鈥檚 parliament after a series of meetings among the then political parties, including the Awami League.
Drawing historical parallels, Asaduzzaman recalled that, in the 1990s, three major political parties reached an unwritten political settlement that made the then chief justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, as the acting president, following the fall of military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad鈥攖hough such a provision did not exist in the constitution at that time. The elected government later ratified it.
He accused the ousted Awami League government of misusing the 1972 constitution during its 16-year rule to prolong its power through authoritarian means.
