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Experts in politics and law have expressed their concerns over the National Consensus Commission’s road map for implementing the July National Charter 2025, warning that it would further deepen the political divides and result in total anarchy.

On October 28, the NCC road map recommended issuing the July National Charter (Reform of Constitution) Implementation Order 2025 by the interim government.

The order would mention 48 constitution-related reform proposals but skip the notes of dissents — contained in the charter — from different political parties.

The recommendations also included holding a referendum under the order before or simultaneously with the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections.

According to the proposal, the referendum will be held only on a single question whether the voters approve the order and the constitutional reforms or not.

A bill would be placed to facilitate the referendum as well as binding a Constitution Reform Assembly, which would work simultaneously as a regular parliament, to implement the reforms within 207 days of its formation.

Welcoming the NCC road map, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Mia Golam Parwar told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the interim government must hold the referendum by November.

Without naming the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and others that oppose a referendum before the JS elections, Parwar said, ‘Some parties are stepping in a dangerous path to demean the July Charter.’

Echoing Parwar, National Citizen Party member  secretary Akhtar Hossen said that his party would endorse the charter only if the implementation of the reform proposals within 270 days is made obligatory by the bill.  

The BNP slammed the NCC road map for implementing the July Charter.

Following a standing committee meeting, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday said that the road map was ‘one-sided’ and the government wanted to forcibly impose it on the nation.

‘This [road map] has proved the year-long discussions between political parties and the reform commissions as well as the NCC meaningless — which is a waste of time and resources, a farce, and a deception for the nation,’ Fakhrul said.

Against this backdrop, legal and political experts observed that if the interim government implemented this NCC the consequences of the road map would be dire.

Supreme Court senior lawyer Ahsanul Karim said that a recommended road map and a charter could not be legal binding unless it was enacted as a law.

‘In the absence of a parliament, there is no scope of enacting an order, a bill, or a charter on constitutional reforms as a statute,’ he said, questioning the authority of the interim government to propose to make a bill.

Referring to the existing constitutional provisions for a referendum, he said that NCC recommendations, if followed, would create a necessity of holding another referendum under the next parliament.

‘Even if the proposed referendum results in a positive result, it will not be effective if it is not held under a law,’ he said.

Warning about a chaotic situation if the referendum skips notes of dissent from political parties, Ahsanul concluded that the road map, if followed, could not legally bind the political parties and the people to go with the road map in the future.

Another senior SC lawyer Shahdeen Malik expressed his frustration over the charter implementation road map, saying that the interim government proved itself incapable of facilitating state

reforms.

‘The expected constitution reforms will never be possible without support from political forces. But the whole consensus efforts have finally divided the political parties,’ he said.

KM Mahiuddin, a professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University, said that the NCC road map would widen the cracks within the country’s political landscape.

‘The recommendations will confuse the common people about the future of the next JS elections,’ he said.

He also commented that only a single question of the referendum, to get people’s consent on many complex issues contained in the July Charter, would undermine the real essence of democracy.

‘Binding the Constitution Reform Assembly, which will have constituent powers, to approve constitutional reforms automatically within 270 days, will make the body merely a puppet,’ he observed. 

Former professor of economics at Dhaka University Mahbub Ullah observed that the NCC road map had already widened the persisting political divisions in the country.

He predicted that the road map, if followed, will delay the next parliament elections as well as facilitate the fallen ‘fascist|’ forces to leave the country amid a complete chaos.

‘People involved in getting any wrong decisions implemented will be held responsible for the chaotic situation,’ Mahbub said.

Anu Muhammad, a former professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, said that the interim government was assigned to hold the next national elections fairly, following a broad consensus of the political parties.

‘Unfortunately, the government is biased towards only three power-mongering political parties. Proposing the NCC road map is a failed attempt to balance the vested interests of the three parties. And it will make the political situation more complex,’ Anu said.