BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said, "The constitutional reform proposal, republic, basic principles of the state, basic principles in running the state, fundamental rights and even the legal department have been discussed. We have discussed the judiciary separately. There are some issues that we will have to discuss again in our party forum." He said, "Besides, we have been able to convince the commission in most cases. The commission will take a decision on those issues and inform us."
He said these things after a meeting with the National Consensus Commission. BNP leaders sat for a discussion at the commission office in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at 11 am today, Thursday. Except for prayers and lunch, it continued until 5 pm without a break. On the first day, only partial discussions were held on the constitution and judiciary reforms. There was no discussion on the electoral system, public administration and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) reforms.
Salahuddin said, "I have stated BNP's position on Article 70 in the constitutional reform. It will be seen later how much the commission will accept. If Article 70 is not included in the vote of confidence and no-confidence and the amendment to the constitution, the government will not be stable."
He said, BNP has given its opinion that MPs will remain independent except for the finance bill, constitutional amendment bill, vote of confidence and national security-related issues. Democracy prospers through practice. We have not been able to establish democratic institutions on a solid foundation, if in the future we can reach that stage in the continuation of constitutional rule, then the issue of Article 70 can be opened up.
Regarding the referendum and constitutional amendment, Salahuddin said that it has been recommended that a referendum be required even after two-thirds support in both houses of parliament and the approval of the President for amending the constitution.
The commission has recommended the formation of a nine-member NCC, including the President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Speaker, and Speaker of the Opposition, to appoint constitutional institutions. This will reduce the Prime Minister's exclusive power.
Salahuddin Ahmed said, there was no discussion on NCC on Thursday. However, I have stated at the beginning of the discussion that BNP does not agree with the idea of forming NCC. NCC is not practiced in the country. If we suddenly do that, we will have to see whether the executive branch and parliament are being weakened in running the state. When there is no parliament or the parliament is dissolved, we will have to see whether the NCC is given too much power and does something else.
BNP had earlier stated that the four fundamental principles of the constitution that existed before the 15th amendment made by Sheikh Hasina's government must be reinstated. Through this, it wants to reinstate the four fundamental principles made by Ziaur Rahman, namely, to return 'trust and belief in Allah' instead of 'secularism'.
Salahuddin Ahmed said, 'There was a misunderstanding here, the report that the commission gave proposed to abolish secularism and other things. BNP wanted to go back to the situation before the 15th Amendment. There is no secularism there, there is trust and belief in Allah. Democracy and nationalism will remain as the basic principles. Therefore, BNP is neither in favor of pluralism nor in favor of the secularism policy. The commission proposed whether the words equality, human dignity and social justice that are in the Declaration of Independence can be included in the proposals and basic principles. BNP agrees with this in principle. However, it will take a decision as a party and inform the commission later.'
According to sources in the meeting, the BNP, which disagreed with the recommendation to establish a judiciary secretariat, said that this requires amending the constitution. It wants to repeal Article 116 of the constitution, but the next parliament will do so. According to the BNP party's 31 points, it wants reforms in the judiciary. The party also expressed the opinion that the constitution needs to be amended for the ordinance issued by the interim government to appoint judges to the high court.
Salahuddin Ahmed told Samakal, "There is consensus on some issues, and there are differences of opinion on some issues. We have accepted some of the arguments of the commission. These will be discussed and decided in the party forum. The commission has also taken note of most of the arguments of the BNP. We are hopeful that we will be able to reach a solution through discussion in this way."
BNP disagreed with most of the National Consensus Commission's reform recommendations during the day-long discussions. BNP disagreed with the recommendation to form a National Constitutional Council (NCC) to reduce the power of the Prime Minister; it also did not agree to it at the negotiating table. The party will meet with the Consensus Commission again on Sunday.
Before the discussion, BNP submitted a 51-page report on the 131 recommendations of the Constitutional Reform Commission and a 42-page report on the recommendations of the Election Reform Commission on Wednesday night. The report, titled 'Full Response', details the party's position on each of the recommendations of both commissions.
