Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders on Sunday said that they recommended a referendum for providing a legal guarantee of the consensus-based ‘national charter’.
During the second phase of its discussion with the National Consensus Commission at the LD Hall of Jatiya Sangsad, the Jamaat leaders demanded both national and local elections under a three-month caretaker government.
The first phase of the Jammat-NCC discussion was held on April 26.
NCC vice-chair Ali Riaz presided over the Sunday discussion, which was also attended by the other commission members and an 11-member delegation led by the Jamaat’s nayeb-e- ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher.
 Talking to journalists after the discussion, Taher said, ‘Considering the importance of political and social impacts, we have recommended a referendum so that citizens’ choices are reflected on the state reforms.’
In separate discussions with the NCC, the Gana Adhikar Parishad and the Rashtra Sanskar Andolan also supported the proposal for a referendum to adopt key reforms.
However, several other parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Communist Party of Bangladesh, oppose a referendum in this regard.
In the Sunday discussion, the Jamaat leaders proposed two formulas for selecting the chief adviser to a caretaker government.
They proposed the outgoing chief justice as a choice for the chief adviser to the proposed caretaker government.
Otherwise, a search committee, comprising the incumbent prime minister, the opposition leader, and the chief justice, can select a candidate for the chief adviser post, Taher said. Â
The Jamaat delegation also recommended appointing the most senior Appellate Division judge as the chief justice. However, the judge must not be accused of any allegations by the Supreme Judicial Council, he added.Â
In the discussion, the Jamaat delegation supported a permanent public administration commission, a separate secretariat for the Supreme Court, recommending a taskforce to monitor the Anti-Corruption Commission.Â
Claiming that the Jamaat compromised the party interests for the sake of state reforms, Taher said that the delegation changed its previous position at several points after the discussions with the NCC.
Finally, the Jamaat agreed to the Electoral Reform Commission’s proposal that anyone accused of crimes against
humanity would be disqualified from contesting in elections.
Earlier, the Jamaat had recommended that only those convicted of such crimes should be barred from contesting in polls.
The party also earlier recommended that the entire advisory council be nominated by the National Constitutional Council.
Taher said, ‘After discussions with the Consensus Commission, we are convinced that the chief adviser should have the authority to choose the advisory council members.’
On March 5, the NCC sent a 166-point spreadsheet on key reforms to 39 political parties. The NCC began the reforms-centric discussions with the parties on March 20. Till Sunday, 26 parties separately participated in the discussion.Â
Today, a CPB delegation is scheduled for its second-phase discussion with the NCC.