Rizvi slams move to make July Charter a core principle

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Friday described the call to include the July Charter in core principles of the Constitution as "misleading".
"BNP has already accepted many points from the July Charter. But why must it be made part of the fundamental principles of the Constitution?" he said, reports UNB.
Rizvi made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a prayer mat distribution programme in front of BNP's Nayapaltan Central office organised by Zia Parishad, seeking the recovery of the organisation's president and BNP Chairperson's adviser Abdul Kuddus.
The BNP leader said reforms will continue to take place across countries and through time. "Reform is not something fixed like the Thai mountain range. It is a dynamic process."
He said when needed for the sake of democracy, the state, or the people, reforms should be made and appropriate laws should be enacted.
"This is the very nature of a democratic constitution. But insisting that reforms must be done first and that it (July Charter) must be included in the fundamental principles (of the Constitution) is misleading. This is creating confusion among people. Why are you trying to mislead the public in this way?" said Rizvi.
Rizvi urged political parties to focus on returning power to people instead of confusing them by raising various demands. "That is the most important task."
He said autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina had taken away the power of people by closing the door to democracy for 16 years. "We must now reopen that closed door and return power to people by forming a government with elected representatives."
The BNP leader said their party has never spoken against reform and, in fact, has always supported it. "Many of the issues you refer to in the name of reform are already reflected in BNP's 31-point reform outline."
Meanwhile, though he has categorically ruled out the possibility of an electoral alliance with their party's long-time ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin indicates that the door remains open for talks with the Nationalist Citizens' Party (NCP) until the election schedule is announced.
In an interview with UNB, Salahuddin expressed confidence that the interim government will hold the next national election by mid-February next year as he thinks various political parties are raising demands around the polls as part of their broader political strategies.
He also urged the National Consensus Commission to conclude discussions on reform proposals within a reasonable timeframe, warning against unnecessary delays that could hinder the election process.
"I don't see any possibility of an electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami. We had an alliance with them in the past as part of our political strategy, but we don't feel the need to partner with Jamaat this time," Salahuddin said.