Law on referendum in 4 days: Asif Nazrul

Interim government has said it will introduce a long-awaited referendum law within the next several working days.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Thursday, Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul said the draft legislation was in its final stages. "We are going to enact the referendum law very soon," he said. "Today is Thursday -- you can assume it will be completed within the next three or four working days."

Commenting on the SC verdict that overturned a controversial ruling issued more than a decade ago by former Chief Justice Khairul Haque, he said it was "another historic judgment".

"The caretaker government has been reinstated," Nazrul said. "It will take effect after the next parliamentary election because a caretaker authority is only formed once Parliament is dissolved. At present there is no Parliament, and under the directive of the higher court, the next Parliament -- once formed -- will have to constitute a caretaker government within 15 days of its dissolution."

The caretaker government mechanism, designed to oversee general elections with a neutral, non-partisan administration, had been a central demand of pro-democracy movements since the 1990s. It was credited with delivering several competitive elections in which ruling parties were routinely defeated -- something many Bangladeshis saw as evidence of its integrity.

mormostafiz@yahoo.com