July Charter to be signed October 15 at political grand show

A nagging standoff ends as political parties and the consensus commission unanimously decide the July Charter will be signed on October 15 at an open-air assembly, though its referendum timing yet undecided.

The decision was finalised at a meeting of the commission on Thursday with so-far squabbling political parties who all agree on post-uprising reforms but disagree over some issues of execution modus operandi.

The signing ceremony-billed historic--will be staged at the South Plaza of the now-deserted National Parliament in Dhaka with Chief Adviser of the transitional government Prof Muhammad Yunus in the chair and representatives of political parties and alliances attending the open-air assembly.

However, despite agreeing on implementing the charter through a referendum, political parties yet remained in disagreement over timing and process of the referendum at the valedictory meeting with the commission.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) argued for holding the referendum simultaneously with the next general election, a view supported by some left-leaning parties.

On the other side of the political divide, Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizens Party (NCP) demanded the referendum in November or so this year to allow the election to proceed based on the national charter.

Against this background, the National Consensus Commission on the day also analysed the opinions of experts and political parties in the commission's last five meetings.

The commission said that after reviewing the opinions received from experts and political parties, recommendations regarding the means of implementation and the final copy of the July Charter would be sent to the government soon.

Earlier on Wednesday, the commission held the last meeting with the political parties on the implementation methodology of the charter with no decision and agreement among the political parties over the timing of the referendum.

Vice-chair of the commission Prof Ali Riaz said the commission should take a decision on the implementation of the July Charter in light of the opinions of political parties and experts, and the political parties and alliances agreed to give clear advice to the government in this regard.

Prof Riaz said this in his closing remarks after discussing the ways for political parties to implement the July National Charter with the National Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy in the city on Wednesday.

He said political parties proposed holding a referendum on separate ballots the same day as the national elections. On the other hand, some political parties agreed to hold a referendum before the national elections.

The commission believes there is "a practical consensus among political parties to grant the 13th Parliament the power to make fundamental structural changes to the constitution by the stipulated time to implement the July charter".

Meanwhile, experts unanimously gave five opinions to the commission regarding the means of implementing the charter. Those are: an order should be issued to implement the charter. A referendum should be arranged through this order.

There will be separate questions in the referendum on issues on which there is consensus or broad consensus and on issues on which there is a note of dissent.

The Constitutional Reform Council and the 13th National Parliament will be formed through the elections. The Council will incorporate the reforms related to the constitution mentioned in the charter into the constitution, subject to the approval of a referendum within the stipulated time in the order.

Citing the defeat of fascism through national unity as the greatest achievement, he added, "This unity must be kept intact and there is no alternative to it."

Representatives of 30 political parties, including the BNP, Jamaat and NCP, participated in the discussion with the National Consensus Commission.

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