Jamaat undecided on oath after BNP's reform council snub

Jamaat-e-Islami has indicated it may reconsider participating in the swearing-in ceremony for MPs after the BNP declined to take oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council.

BNP lawmakers were sworn in on Tuesday as members of the 13th National Parliament but refused the separate oath linked to the proposed reform council.

In response, Jamaat leaders said they were reviewing their position, reports bdnews24.com.

“We will now decide whether we will take the oath at all,” Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar told bdnews24.com.

The party’s deputy chief Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said: “There are complications. You will know [our decision soon].”

Mohammad Nazibur Rahman, elected from Pabna-1, said Jamaat MPs were inside the parliament building but had yet to take a final decision.

“We are at parliament. No decision has been made yet regarding the oath. We are in a meeting,” he said.

Earlier, Taher told Bangla daily Prothom Alo that if BNP lawmakers did not take oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council, Jamaat MPs would “not take any oath at all”.

Although Jamaat lawmakers and their alliance partners were present at the parliament complex, their swearing-in had not begun at the time of reporting.

Earlier in the day, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed announced that BNP MPs would not take oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council, though they would be sworn in as members of parliament.

He argued that the proposed council has no explicit constitutional basis at present and that any such body would first need to be incorporated into the Constitution through formal amendment and parliamentary approval.

“As things stand, we have acted within the limits of the Constitution,” Salahuddin said, adding that the decision was taken on the instruction of party chief Tarique Rahman.

The Constitution Reform Council is intended to implement reform proposals under the July Charter, following the “Yes” vote in the referendum held alongside the general election.

Jamaat won 68 seats in the election and is set to sit in opposition in the new parliament.

The party had publicly supported reform commitments tied to the July Charter.