SM Najmus Sakib
The National Consensus Commission (NCC) has decided to hold a meeting with the political parties this week to further discuss the implementation process of July National Charter and share the experts' opinions on it in particular.
The experts' panel after Sunday's meeting with the commission submitted a written opinion to the NCC outlining how to implement the July Charter.
Now the commission is thinking of sharing the opinion with the political parties to hear from them, officials of the NCC told the FE on Monday.
After the discussion, the commission will send the final copy of the July Charter to the political parties. The charter has already been finalised and is waiting to be signed.
However, the commission and political parties have not yet reached any consensus on its implementation method.
The major stakeholder Bangladesh Nationalists Party (BNP) wants to give the responsibility of implementation to the next parliament when it comes to the reform issues related to the constitution while two other key parties Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP) want referendum or other methods to implement the charter before the next election.
The commission sources told the FE that it was not in favour of opening any option for the political parties to further amend the charter but to share the expert' version on the implementation process or method.
"We already have the final copy of the July Charter and it is not going to be amended further as we finalised it after several meetings with the political parties. What we don't have is the implementation method. So, we are going to hold a meeting with the political parties anytime soon this week on it (implementation)," Prof Ali Riaz, vice president of the commission, told the FE.
"Political parties should know the experts' opinion we received from them," he said.
"What we think is that- it is necessary to share the experts' opinion with the political parties. Experts may be present at the meeting with political parties. However, it is not final yet as we have the written experts' opinion with us," he added.
The fresh meeting with the political parties is not going to be of a long form as the commission is determined to complete the process by September 15, the tenure of the commission after the government extended it.
The signing can be done after September 15; however, the commission is working to complete all the discussions before the deadline, according to the commission sources.
"We prepared a charter after a long discussion. Now, we cannot impose the implementation method, rather can suggest it and it will then be up to the political parties and the government how they implement it," he explained.
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, on Sunday experts advised the commission to implement the July Charter through a special constitutional order.
According to their oral and written opinion, the President could issue a constitutional order. The July Charter will be implemented upon the issuance.
The presidential order will be issued only for constitutional reforms. And, the interim government could issue ordinances and executive orders for other reforms.
They suggested moving forward in that way to implement it before the national election. The opinion for a referendum was seen as impractical, according to sources in the commission.
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