A meeting of the National Consensus Commission and its panel of experts, held on Wednesday to finalise recommendations on the mechanisms for implementing the July National Charter 2025, ended on an inconclusive note.
With no final decision reached, the commission postponed the meeting until 2:00pm today.
The participants of the meeting analysed the pros and cons of previously discussed mechanisms, including the issuance of a 鈥榮pecial鈥� order, a referendum and assigning a dual role to the next Jatiya Sangsad, for implementing the July Charter.
A number of participants said that the commission was preparing to draft an order titled the July Charter Implementation (Constitution) Order, based on the spirit of the July 2024 uprising that ousted the Awami League regime past year.
However, the specific clauses and sub-clauses of the order were not finalised during Wednesday鈥檚 meeting, which lasted for more than three hours, they said.
An expert attending the meeting said that discussions on the structure of the order continued, but the clauses and sub-clauses could not be finalised due to many intricate details involved.
Commission vice-chair professor Ali Riaz said, 鈥榃e will try to finalise our recommendations on Thursday [today].鈥�
Meeting participants said that a broad consensus had been reached on citing the July uprising, instead of the July Declaration, as the foundation of the July Charter Implementation Order.
According to the initial plan, an order would be issued to launch the charter鈥檚 implementation process. A separate ordinance under this order would then be issued to authorise a 鈥榮pecial referendum鈥� to seek the people鈥檚 mandate on the charter and the proposed dual role of the next parliament as both the regular Jatiya Sangsad and a Constitutional Reform Council.
One expert raised question about under which government the next parliamentary elections would be held.
The existing constitution stipulates that if a parliament is dissolved before the end of its term, elections must be held within 90 days of its dissolution, a deadline that has already passed, he said.
Discussions were held on whether the commission has the authority to make recommendations on this issue, but no conclusion was reached.
There was also debate over the specific responsibilities of the reform council.
Meeting participants further said that no final decision was made regarding the question to be presented in the referendum.
Additionally, the commission could not determine how to address the notes of dissent attached to the July Charter within the framework of the implementation order.
Retired Appellate Division Justice MA Matin and Supreme Court lawyer Imran Siddiq attended the meeting in person, while retired Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, Supreme Court senior lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan, and professor Mohammad Ekramul Haque, dean of the law faculty at Dhaka University, joined virtually.
Alongside professor Ali Riaz, the other commission members, including Badiul Alam Majumdar, Justice Md Emdadul Haque, Iftekharuzzaman, Safar Raj Hossain and Mohammad Aiyub Mia, were present.
Monir Haidar, special assistant to the chief adviser on reforms, was also present.
The majority of the 30 political parties that had engaged in nearly a year-long dialogue with the National Consensus Commission to shape the country鈥檚 reform agenda 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.
