Interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus will start the second phase of talks between the National Consensus Commission and the political parties today to reach a consensus on state reforms and also to finalise the July Charter.
Professor Yunus is set to hold the all party meeting at聽 a time when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has been pressing for the national election by this December while the interim government has remained adamant to hold the polls between December this year and June next year.
The chief adviser鈥檚 deputy press secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder at a briefing on Sunday said that all political parties engaged in the ongoing reform discussions have been invited to attend the meeting to be held around 4:30pm at the Foreign Service Academy on Bayley Road in the capital.
He said that the chief adviser being the NCC head would inaugurate the second phase of talks, which would continue until the July charter was finalised.
The talks are likely to be held both before and after Eid-ul-Adha, he added.
Against the backdrop of recent political unrest, marked by frequent street protests and infighting among parties, the chief adviser held meetings with different political parties in phases during May 24-25 to address the crises.
During the meetings, political parties expressed support for the chief adviser but held firm to their own demands.
The BNP, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party confirmed to 抖阴精品 that they had received official invitations to participate in the meeting.
Earlier, the first round of discussions between the NCC, headed by the chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, and the political parties concluded on May 19.
The NCC, during the first-round talks that started on March 20, held a series of meetings with political parties to build a national consensus on state reforms.
The NCC has been working since February 15 to finalise its recommendations for state reform initiatives taken by the interim government.
The BNP pushed for the national election by December this year while the Jamaat and the NCP called for reforms, visible progress in the trial of July perpetrators, and then the election as per the timeline announced by the government.
Other political parties also demanded a clear road map for the next national election, a charter for consensus-based reforms, and ensuring visible progress in the trial.
Referring to the chief adviser鈥檚 second-round meeting, BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Saturday said that they were getting the impression that there was no shortage of formalities and discussions, but no real progress was being made on the actual work.
Speaking at a discussion organised by Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal in Dhaka, he mocked the repeated ceremonial inaugurations of political dialogue initiated by the chief adviser.
鈥楢gain, the second phase of the dialogue will be ceremonially inaugurated. How many times does something need to be inaugurated? You inaugurated the first phase, now the second, and then the third, you will combine it all again. This is how you are dangling the illusion of reform in front of us,鈥� he added.
