The adjourned meeting of the National Consensus Commission and its panel of legal experts to decide the recommendations on the July National Charter implementation mechanism ended on Saturday also without any ‘legally valid and politically acceptable’ solution.
The meeting had been adjourned on Thursday.
Several members of the commission said that they would meet again today to review the outcome of Saturday’s meeting and, if needed, the experts would be called in again.Â
A member of the commission said that though Saturday’s meeting saw some progress, no final decision was made because of unresolved questions on several key issues.
The meeting was held at the NCC office on the Jatiya Sangsad premises in Dhaka.
On Thursday, the commission and the expert panel had planned for recommending the interim government to issue a July Charter Implementation (Reform of Constitution) Order, inspired by the 2024 July uprising, and a separate ordinance for a referendum on measuring people’s mandate for the order.
The referendum ballot would ask if the voters endorse the proposed reforms and the order. With a positive referendum result, the next Jatiya Sangsad would act simultaneously as a regular parliament and a ‘constitution reform assembly’.
The JS speaker would chair the assembly which could make decisions on the basis of simple majority, according to the plan.Â
However, the commission and the experts on Saturday made no decision on whether the order would carry the 84 reform points with or without dissents as they were contained in the July Charter.Â
Also, the meeting could not solve some questions, including what the next steps will be if the constitution reform assembly fails to adopt the reforms within 270 days from its formation.
Proposals, including dissolving the constitution reform assembly and holding a fresh election to establish the regular assembly, or deeming the incorporation the charter-outlined reforms into the constitution automatically -- if the assembly fails to meet the deadline -- were placed in Saturday’s NCC-experts meeting.
But all the proposals seemed ‘impractical’, said one of the meeting attendees.
During previous meetings with the commission, delegates of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party strongly recommended mentioning the 84 reform points with dissents in all documents of the July Charter.
The party also opposed issuing any ‘special order’.
Before Saturday’s meeting of the commission and the experts, a delegation from the National Citizen Party, called on the commission to place their demands.
The NCP, the new political party formed by the key July uprising organisers, refrained from signing the July Charter on October 17 when 24 parties, the NCC, and chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus signed the document.
On Saturday, the NCP also recommended the commission to keep the 84 reform points without dissent in the charter implementation order. Â
The NCP delegation, led by the party’s joint convener Sarwar Tusher, also recommended effectiveness of the proposed order from the very date of its issuance.
NCC vice-chair Professor Ali Riaz on Saturday evening said that the commission was expecting the NCP’s endorsement of the Charter.
‘The NCP delegation sought clarification on the July Charter Implementation Order being drafted. The commission will consider their points for further analysis,’ Ali Riaz said.Â
Retired Appellate Division Justice MA Matin, Dhaka University’s law faculty dean Professor Mohammad Ekramul Haque, Supreme Court lawyers Sharif Bhuiyan, Imran Siddiq, and Tanim Hossain Shawan attended the meeting as legal experts.
Alongside Professor Riaz, commission members Badiul Alam Majumder, Justice Md Emdadul Haque, Iftekharuzzaman, and Mohammad Aiyub Mia, and the chief adviser’s special assistant for reforms Monir Haidar were present.
