Speakers, including lawyers, at a discussion on Saturday urged the people not to scrap the existing constitution on a whim.
They said that the student-led mass uprising of 2024 created space for understanding the fundamental principles and rights enshrined in the national constitution, and also showed how previous rulers, including the recently ousted Sheikh Hasina-led 鈥榝ascist鈥� government, deliberately violated those rights.
Against the backdrop of the July-August uprising and subsequent state reformation initiatives, two youth-based social organisations, Reading Club Trust and Ainer Kotha, organised the discussion titled 鈥楻esponsibilities and Destiny of a Constitution鈥�.
The event was held at the RC Majumder Arts Auditorium at Dhaka University.
Dr Kamal Hossain, chairman of the 1972 constitution drafting committee and a veteran lawyer, said in a written speech that citizens of post-uprising Bangladesh should amend and uphold their constitution in such a way that no fascist government could rise again.
鈥楾he lessons of the student-mass uprising must be reflected in the constitution to prevent future governments from suppressing the people,鈥� Dr Kamal said.
Presenting his proposals for constitutional reform, Arif Khan, president of Reading Club Trust, said that a new constitution could be written for Bangladesh.
The 1972 constitution upholds essential constitutional ideologies that safeguard common people, Arif said, adding that these ideologies should not be changed on a whim.
He said that anti-discrimination was one of the fundamental components of the 1972 constitution, which instructs the government of the People鈥檚 Republic to ensure equality, human dignity, and social justice.
鈥楾he governments, however, have deliberately violated the constitution,鈥� Arif said.
He discussed 17 points, including renaming the fundamental principles enshrined in Section 15 of the constitution as the people鈥檚 fundamental rights.
He also recommended establishing a permanent Constitution Commission, curbing the prime minister鈥檚 autocratic powers by distributing state power among various constitutional bodies, empowering the Judicial Council to appoint lower court judges, reintroducing the post of Deputy Prime Minister, making Section 70 more democratic, and appointing an ombudsman.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan noted that those discussing rewriting or scrapping the existing constitution may wait for the disposal of two pending petitions regarding the 15th and 13th amendments to the constitution.
鈥楢n elected government, rather than an interim government, should amend a constitution,鈥� he remarked.
Zahed Ur Rahman, a member of the Electoral System Reform Commission, said that the focus on changing repressive or discriminatory elements in the existing constitution would be diluted if debates on scrapping or rewriting the constitution dominated public discourse.
