Law adviser Asif Nazrul on Tuesday said that the government’s steps on implementing the July National Charter 2025 would be made clear within the next three to four days.
His remarks to the reporters came at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka city, following a discussion on the Legal Aid (Amendment) Ordinance.
The adviser said that while political parties were expected to hold discussions among themselves and provide a unified direction, the government had not waited passively.
‘We have acted independently. Within three to four days, it will be clear what measures we have taken regarding the charter’s implementation,’ Asif Nazrul said.
The July National Charter 2025, an agreement on state reforms reached through almost a year of negotiations involving various political parties, was signed on October 17.
The National Consensus Commission on October 28 submitted the road map for implementing the charter to the interim government and political parties, ignoring the notes of dissent from different parties on various constitutional reform issues.
The commission proposed two plans to implement 48 constitutional reform proposals within 270 days.
The first plan suggested the interim government present them as a bill before the referendum, with reforms automatically taking effect if not approved by the assembly within 270 days.
The second plan proposed that the newly formed assembly approve the reforms, mandated by the referendum, within the same 270-day period.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its like-minded parties opposed the road map, terming several of its options ‘absurd’, while Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party welcomed it.
Meanwhile, at an emergency session of the council of advisers on November 2 with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in chair, political parties were urged to reach consensus within a week on key aspects of the July charter, particularly the scope and timing of the referendum.
The council cautioned that if the parties failed to agree, the government would move forward independently.
The seven-day period ended on Sunday without any progress, and several Islamic parties, led by Jamaat, took to the streets demanding implementation of the July charter before the next polls.
Several advisers and officials at the Chief Adviser’s Office recently hinted that the government would take up the issue of implementing the July charter, including the timing of the proposed referendum, at the next meeting of the council of advisers to be held tomorrow.
Amid the political debate over the charter’s implementation, the law adviser on Tuesday told reporters that the advisers to the interim government were discussing the matter at various levels.
‘We are coordinating with the expectations of all parties to ensure that whatever steps we take are in the best interest of the country and people,’ he added.
Meanwhile, the draft of the Legal Aid (Amendment) Ordinance was presented on behalf of the National Legal Aid Services Organisation at the meeting.
The meeting was attended, among others, by attorney general Md Asaduzzaman, law secretary Liaqat Ali Molla, former district judge Motahar Hossain, Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust executive director Barrister Sara Hossain, and special consultant to the law ministry Tanim Hosein Shawon.
