Nearing its journey's end sans its mission's finale, the National Consensus Commission is readying the final draft of July Charter to send to the political parties for signing with no room left for amendment.
The NCC holds informal meetings with the political parties and facilitates meetings among the political parties as the commission is determined not to get its tenure extended further.
Earlier, the government extended the tenure of the commission until September 15 as it failed to come up with a finalised copy of the national charter by July-31 timeline.
However, growing fears hover around that the political parties may not find a solution to reach consensus on the implementation modality of the charter, which could further delay the signing of the national charter embodying the uprising spirit of sociopolitical changes.
Badiul Alam Majumder, a member of the commission, told the FE, "We are not in favour of extending the tenure of the commission as we are determined to end the process by September 15."
However, there are disagreements within the reform recommendations of the commission and those saw consensus with notes of dissent. The political parties also submitted their feedbacks on the draft charter suggesting changes or amendments to the draft.
About the disagreements, Mr. Majumder said, "There will be no option of further amendment in the final copy. The copy is almost ready to send to the political parties.
"We cannot make all happy."
He, however, wouldn't divulge the date of sharing the final copy with the political parties as only 11 days remain in hand before reaching the brink.
The commission Wednesday also held an internal meeting reviewing the suggestions and recommendations already received from political parties to determine the ways and methods of finalising the charter and implementing it.
Some parties submitted their opinions on this issue on the day.
The Consensus Commission has already met informally with 28 political parties to finalise the national charter. Following the discussion with the political parties informally, the commission also decided to hold a meeting with experts.
In this process, the commission invited opinions from political parties on the modus operandi to implement the charter. So far, opinions have been received from 26 parties.
The disagreements among the political parties on the method of charter implementation and legal bindings have not seen any sign of cooling.
The major-stakeholder Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been on the side of giving the responsibility of adopting the charter to the next parliament while two other major stakeholders--Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP)--demanding legal bindings of implementing before the next national elections and holding the elections based on the consensus met in the July charter.
There are reports that the commission is also facilitating political parties to hold informal meetings to close ranks. However, no major development is there yet.
"The commission is holding so many informal meetings with the political parties and facilitating them to reach political consensus on the July charter," Mr. Majumder said, without elaborating further.
The commission also held meetings with legal experts, the law adviser and the attorney-general to find solutions on the implementing method.
"We cannot say yet as we couldn't reach the final stage (on legal solutions). However, we will further sit with experts and political parties to reach a decision before the deadline," he said in response to the question what solution the experts gave.
The seven-member commission, formed on February 12 this year, is headed by Chief Adviser of the post-uprising government Prof Muhammad Yunus.
The panel continues to negotiate with political parties on implementing the consensus reached on reform issues.
During the initial phase of discussions, the NCC elicited consensus on 62 issues. In the second phase, there was unanimous agreement on 11 out of 20 issues, while the remaining nine were agreed upon with some dissents.
The first phase involved separate discussions with 33 political parties from March 20 to May 19, followed by thematic discussions with 30 parties from June 3 to July 31.
BSS adds: The National Consensus Commission held a meeting on Wednesday to finalize and consider ways to implement the July National Charter, 2025.
The meeting was held at the conference room of the commission's office at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban this morning, according to a press release.
The meeting reviewed the suggestions and recommendations already received from political parties to determine the ways and methods to finalize and implement the national charter.
Some parties submitted their opinions on this issue on Wednesday. Taking these opinions into consideration, it was decided to hold a meeting with experts.
Commission Vice-Chairman Professor Ali Riaz chaired the meeting while Commission members Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder, Justice Md. Emdadul Haque, Safar Raj Hossain and Dr. Md. Ayub Mia and Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Manir Haidar were present.
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