Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said the National Consensus Commission is attempting to create a division instead of national unity.
“We can see that instead of building national consensus, they have taken an initiative to establish division,” Salahuddin said while speaking to journalists at the Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon after meeting with Law Adviser Asif Nazrul.
“In the recommendations submitted to the chief adviser regarding the implementation of July Charter, several issues have been included that were not part of the signed charter. This raises questions about the commission’s intentions,” he added.
Salahuddin however thanked the commission for completing its activities while responding to reporters’ questions about the recommendations submitted to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Responding to a question, he said, “The July Charter has around 84 clauses, and there are some differences of opinion and notes of dissent from us and other political parties.
“It is clearly mentioned that if the political parties that gave those notes of dissent include them in their election manifestos and later receive a mandate from the people, they will be able to implement them accordingly.”
The BNP leader added, “In the printed version of the July National Charter book that you will find here, every section that contains notes of dissent is clearly marked. Yet, astonishingly, in the attachments added to the recommendations, there is no mention of these notes of dissent.”
Referring to the commission’s recommendation for holding a referendum on the implementation of the July Charter before or on the day of the national election, Salahuddin said, “Perhaps the political parties will need to discuss this issue again.”
He also pointed out that a new idea called the “Constitutional Reform Council” has been inserted in the recommendations. “This was never discussed at the National Consensus Commission table,” he said.
Salahuddin, who was a participant in the commission’s meetings, expressed surprise at the inclusion of this new proposal, saying there had been no consensus on it.
