July Charter to be implemented as signed, including dissenting notes: Home minister

Highlights:

• Parliamentary committee is consulting political parties and other stakeholders
• Govt aims to place the constitutional amendment bill in parliament soon

The government will implement the July National Charter as it was signed, including the notes of dissent submitted by political parties, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said today (20 September).

He made the remarks after a meeting of the parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendments.

Salahuddin said political parties that signed the Charter had raised differing views on some issues through notes of dissent and that the committee was discussing those matters as part of the implementation process.

“They [the political parties] said we should finish the discussions as soon as possible and submit the report to parliament, and that this would be the 18th constitutional amendment,” he said.

“After accepting it and discussing it with everyone, if we reach an understanding, the nation will understand that the July National Charter has been properly implemented,” he added.

He said the committee would submit its report to parliament after completing discussions with the relevant parties.

Govt rejects claim over BNP’s majority

Salahuddin said the meeting also discussed claims by some political parties that the ruling BNP did not want to implement the July Charter because it holds a majority in parliament.

“The claim that the [ruling] BNP does not want to implement the July Charter because of its majority is completely untrue. We have said that we will implement the July National Charter to the letter, exactly as it was signed. We will try to bring the constitutional amendment bill as soon as possible,” he said.

The parliamentary special committee was formed to review constitutional reform proposals in the July National Charter and has been consulting political parties and other stakeholders as part of the process.

The committee has said it would consider views from political parties, constitutional experts, lawyers, media editors and other stakeholders before finalising its recommendations.