Chief adviser joins consensus commission meeting

Chief Adviser and National Consensus Commission Chairman Muhammad Yunus attended a dialogue between the panel and political parties on Sunday.

The meeting began at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka after 3:00 pm on Sunday, the Chief Adviser's Office said.

The commission said the chief adviser was in attendance until 4:00 pm. The commission's discussions with political leaders continued after his departure.

After the discussion, the commission’s Vice-Chairman, Ali Riaz, will brief journalists about the meeting at around 5:30 pm. Afterwards, representatives of political parties will also brief the media.

The National Consensus Commission officially started its work on Feb 15. Printed copies of the six commission reports were sent to all political parties by Feb 28.

Then, on Mar 5, 166 important recommendations from the reports of the five commissions, excluding the Police Reform Commission, were sent in spreadsheet form to 38 political parties and alliances for their opinions.

Of these, 70 were on constitutional reforms, 27 on electoral reforms, 23 on the judiciary, 26 on public administration, and 27 on the Anti-Corruption Commission. Since the recommendations of the Police Reform Commission can be implemented directly through administrative decisions, they were not included in the spreadsheet.

The list of recommendations of the other five commissions, excluding the Constitutional Reform Commission, that could be implemented quickly, was handed over to the government.

A total of 35 political parties and alliances sent their opinions to the commission, many of whom also provided detailed explanations and analyses.

In addition to receiving opinions, the National Consensus Commission held a total of 44 meetings with 32 parties and alliances in the first phase from Mar 20 to May 19. Some parties held multiple meetings.

In the first phase of discussions, consensus was reached on 62 issues.

The first phase of discussions ended in the LD Hall of the Parliament Building before Eid ul-Azha. The commission then inaugurated the second phase of discussions on Jun 2.

In this round, the commission held discussions with political parties on a total of 20 issues of priority and importance.

The second round of discussions began at the Foreign Service Academy. The discussions lasted for 23 days from Jun 3 to Jul 31.

The final consolidated draft of the July National Charter was sent to the political parties, giving them until Aug 22 to submit their comments.

After another round of informal meetings with the parties, a copy of the final charter was provided to the political parties on Thursday.

The meeting on the implementation process of the July National Charter began on Thursday.

In continuation of this, the chief advisor is joining the meeting on the second day of the third round.