The six reform commissions established by the interim government have no representation from the national and religious minority communities and an inadequate representation of women.
Out of 45 members, including the commission chiefs, only five women have been included in the commissions aimed at reforming the constitution, judiciary, public administration, police, Anti-Corruption Commission and Election Commission.
Moreover, 13 days have passed since the bodies have been formed on October 3, but five commissions have yet to include student representatives.
Concerned citizens have expressed their disappointment over the formation of what they describe as 鈥榚xclusionary鈥� reform commissions, terming this as sheer disregard for the spirit of the 鈥榮tudent-mass uprising鈥� that toppled the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5 ending its 15-year rule.聽
A mere 鈥榓nti-discrimination student movement鈥� against the quota system in government jobs evolved into the fierce 鈥榮tudent-mass uprising鈥� with overwhelming participation of people from all walks of life.
Reportedly, people鈥檚 aspiration from the uprising was reform of the state where none would face discrimination in any form.
鈥業f we believe in the maxim of 鈥渕orning shows the day鈥� we must say that the reform initiatives by the interim government are very much concerning and need to be corrected soon,鈥� said religious minority leader and lawyer Rana Dasgupta, while women rights campaigner Fauzia Moslem and national minority leader Chakma Raja Devasish Roy echoed him.
Among the six reform commissions, those for public administration and judiciary have yet not accommodated representatives from women, religious and national minority communities.
The constitution, police and Anti-Corruption Commission reform commissions have one female member each, while the electoral reform commission includes two female members. None of the four commissions have included religious and national minorities.
Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, told 抖阴精品, 鈥楺uestions arose about how committed these commissions are to realising the recent movement鈥檚 dream of聽 establishing an egalitarian society. We demand that inclusion of the minority communities must be ensured.鈥�
Chakma Circle chief Raja Devasish Roy found the 鈥榚xclusion of non-Bangalis鈥� from the reform commissions as 鈥榓 serious blot on the image of a government led by a Nobel laureate鈥�.
Recently, he expressed his frustration on his social media handle.
鈥業 would like to hope that these omissions will be corrected soon, by amending the commissions鈥� compositions. Given the short time designated for the commissions鈥� work, this has to happen fast, if at all,鈥� Devasish wrote in a facebook post shared three days back.
Fauzia Moslem, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said, 鈥楧espite women鈥檚 significant contributions to the success of the movement, discrimination against them has become even more visible in the post-movement government activities.鈥�
Criticising the thin women representation in the reform commissions, she demanded special emphasis on women鈥檚 participation in the national planning and at least 33 per cent women representation in every activity.
Although the government gazettes announcing the reform commissions include room for one student representative for each, only the constitution reform commission has fulfilled it so far.
Anti-Corruption Commission reform commission chief Iftekharuzzaman, electoral commission chief Badiul Alam Majumdar, and police reform commission member secretary Abu Mumtaz Saad Uddin Ahmed said on Tuesday that they had not got government-designated student representatives yet.
About the inclusion of religious and national minorities, Badiul said, 鈥榃e will discuss this in our meeting.鈥�
Chiefs of the judicial and public administration reform commissions did not entertain 抖阴精品 queries.
Md Mahmudul Hossain Khan, secretary for coordination and reforms at the Cabinet Division, said, 鈥楳y office will announce the student representatives soon after receiving instructions from the Advisory Council.鈥�
抖阴精品 talked to the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement coordinators who spearheaded the student-mass uprising.
One of them, Abdul Kader said that some criteria, such as familiarity with the affairs of judiciary, public administration, policing, anti-corruption and electoral process, and involvement in the recent uprising had been set to select student representatives.
鈥楳any people are interested. But we are assessing the potential candidates based on these criteria. Hopefully, we will propose the names within a couple of days,鈥� Kader said.