BNP declines invitation, demands referendum

FE Team | Published: April 23, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The BNP has declined an invitation from the special parliamentary (JS) committee on constitutional amendment and called for a referendum on the issue, reports bdnews24.com. "The letter to Khaleda Zia is mere eyewash," the opposition's chief whip Joynal Abdin Farroque said at a human chain programme in the city on Friday morning. The youth front of the Jatiya Gantrantik Party (Jagpa) organised the programme on 'Violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, endangered regional integrity and unconstitutional peace accord' in front of the National Press Club. "The government has been working on the constitutional review for the last nine months and the committee issued a letter to the opposition leader after such a long time seeking her opinion on the matter. We criticise the move," he said. He asked the government to take public opinion on the issue in a plebiscite. Farroque's remarks came after the BNP chief's meeting with the party's policymakers to decide about the invitation was adjourned on Thursday night. Party's standing committee members started the meeting with Khaleda at around 9.30pm on Thursday, which ended inconclusively around 11pm. "We are discussing the invitation. The meeting has been adjourned," standing committee member Moudud Ahmed had told reporters after the meeting Thursday. On special invitation, the acting general secretary, chairperson's advisor, opposition chief whip and the former attorney general were also present in the meeting. A letter inviting Khaleda to the discussions on constitution review on Apr 25 and 26 reached her Gulshan office on Wednesday. Senior leaders have been suggesting that the "chairperson's reply is a no", though official response is yet to come. UNB adds, the national executive committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) meets today (Saturday) to discuss the prevailing political situation and to decide the next course of action. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia will make the opening remarks at 10 am at Dhaka Mahanagar Natyamancha in the city. This will be the second meeting of the present national executive body after the first one held on July 31 last year following BNP's national council on December 8, 2009.