Some political parties demand national election first, ban of AL
The interim government will prepare a ‘national charter’ within six months based on the national consensus on reforms among the political parties.
Besides, the National Consensus Commission will hold a series of dialogues with political parties to finalise the ‘national charter’.
The decisions were taken at the first meeting between the National Consensus Commission and political parties and alliances on Saturday.
The meeting was held at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka with the commission’s head and chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in the chair, sources present in the meeting said.
Around 100 politicians from 27 political parties and alliances, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Jatiya Nagarik Committee and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, attended the meeting.
Leaders of most of the political parties at the meeting urged the interim government not to hold local government elections before the national election.
They also urged for holding the next national election after necessary reforms.
Some of the parties, especially Jatiya Nagarik Committee led by students, also urged the government to take measures to ban the Awami League for crimes against humanity.
National Consensus Commission vice-chairman Professor Ali Riaz told journalists that separate meetings regarding the reports of the reform commissions would be held with political parties soon.
He said that all political parties in Saturday’s meeting had agreed that there was no alternative to national unity in the current situation of the country.
He said that all the parties had even agreed to cooperate with the interim government in carrying out the reform programs. ‘We think that the responsibility of each of the political parties is to take our reform programs forward,’ he said.
‘We want to reach a consensus as soon as possible through dialogues. But, since we are sending the reports of the six commissions to the political parties, they need some time to review them,’ he said.
‘We will talk to the political parties separately. We do not want to prolong the process,’ he said.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, addressing the meeting, demanded full reports of the six reform commissions and informed the meeting that their party would give opinion after conducting a study on the reports, sources present in the meeting said.
The BNP leader, after attending the meeting, said to journalists, ‘we hope that a minimum consensus on this reform will be reached very soon and that the national election, based on the consensus, will be held very soon. This is our expectation.’
In response to a question, he reiterated that they had already made it clear that the national election must be held first and local government elections will be held then.
Jatiya Nagarik Committee convener Nasiruddin Patwari said that they told the meeting that the ‘July Charter’, or the ‘national charter’, would have to be formulated through legal process.
He said that his party thought that the Constituent Assembly, national election and reforms could go together.
The people of the country will get freedom through a new constitution through the Constituent Assembly, he said.
Revolutionary Workers Party general secretary and Ganatantra Mancha coordinator Saiful Huq told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they had told the interim government to continue their works on three main issues – completing some essential reforms, holding trials of the fascists, and arranging the next general election within justified time as early as possible.
‘Moreover, we proposed the interim government to form another commission to remove discriminations, especially economic discriminations,’ he added.
Hasnat Abdullah, the convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said that they had proposed to cancel the registration of the Awami League as the first step towards banning the party.
Socialist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Bazlur Rashid Firoz, after attending the meeting, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they had proposed that the next general elections should be held as early as possible in a free, fair and credible manner for the democratic transition of the country.
SPB also demanded the publication of a white paper on the six months’ rule of the interim government, he said.
Jamaat’s nayeb-e-ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told journalists that they told the meeting that reforms were necessary and should be implemented first before the national election.
Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s senior presidium member Mosaddek Billah said that they suggested holding necessary reform first and holding the election through a proportional representation system and ensuring the trial of the AL before the election.
Gono Odhikar Parishad president Nurul Haque Nur said that they told the meeting that the local government election should be held quickly as the local government system remained inactive for the past six months.
