The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday warned that any decision that the interim government would make beyond the scope of the agreed July National Charter would be the sole responsibility of the government.
The BNP standing committee at an emergency press conference at the party chairperson鈥檚 office at Gulshan said that if the government would make any decision outside the charter that was signed on October 17, no party that signed it would be obliged to accept it.
鈥業n such a case, the full responsibility will lie with the government,鈥� BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said, urging the government to take measures against any deviation from the signed agreement.
The charter is an agreement reached through negotiations spanning about a year involving political parties.
The National Consensus Commission, on October 28, submitted the roadmap for implementing the charter to the interim government and the political parties, ignoring the notes of dissent from different parties on various聽 constitutional reform issues.
The commission proposed two plans to implement 48 constitutional reform proposals within 270 days: the first 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 proposed that the newly formed assembly approve the reforms, mandated by the referendum, within the same 270-day period.
The BNP and its like-minded parties opposed the roadmap, terming several of its options 鈥榓bsurd鈥�, while the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party welcomed it.
Meanwhile, at an emergency session of the council of advisers on November 2, chaired by chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, political parties were urged to reach a 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 the implementation of the charter before the next polls.
Against this backdrop, BNP standing committee on Monday night held a meeting at the party chairperson鈥檚 office with its acting chairman Tarique Rahman in the chair.
Addressing the press conference at the party chairperson鈥檚 office to announce the decisions of the meeting, Khandaker Mosharraf said that the BNP remained fully committed to the terms of the charter and expected that the government would respect its provisions.
Another standing committee member, Salahuddin Ahmed, said that the charter had been signed in a historic event.
He explained that the charter included various notes of dissent from different political parties at different stages, and it was stated in the document that if any party mentioned these notes of dissent in their election manifesto and received the people鈥檚 mandate, they would be able to implement these notes of dissent accordingly.
Salahuddin said that they were fully in agreement on this point and remained in that position, confirming that they had not moved beyond the signed accord.
He said that the recommendations provided by the NCC to the government on how to implement the charter did not include the parts related to the notes of dissent.
Instead, the commission had made a schedule of proposals with 48 points and recommended a referendum on those proposals, he said.
Salahuddin said that they had agreed to hold the referendum on the day of the national election in the interest of national unity.
He also said that some political parties were now raising unreasonable new issues and launching movements demanding issues beyond the signed document over the implementation of the charter.
Salahuddin said that any decision taken by the government beyond the signed provisions of the charter would not be the responsibility of, nor would it be accepted by, any political party that had signed the charter.
The BNP leader also raised concerns about the government鈥檚 approach to issuing presidential orders to implement the charter.
He clarified that there is no provision in Bangladesh鈥檚 current constitution for issuing presidential orders with legal authority.
Khondokar Mosharraf said that those who are unable to participate in the election process are trying to incite unrest in the country.
鈥楾here is a conspiracy regarding the election. Those who are unable to participate in the election are trying to create unrest in the country in various ways,鈥� he said.
The press conference was attended by several other BNP standing committee members, including Mirza Abbas, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, and Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.