Bangladesh News

The government is trying to build a political consensus to form a “constitutional review commission” but will leave its recommendations to be implemented by the elected government, said Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday.

The government resumed the ongoing dialogue with political parties and held talks with the leftist Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD). Both the sides agreed that the constitution has not been properly practised.

The party also demanded immediate withdrawal of the state of emergency and establishing the right to seek bail for all.

The dialogue resumed at a time when detained ex-premier and BNP chief Khaleda Zia termed it a “staged drama” as the government itself is working against through “mass arrests”.

The government also left open the options of holding the dialogues through to July to wait for the Awami League and BNP to take part. It also plans to hold talks with women’s groups, farmers, people from media, ethnic and religious minorities, and upazila and union level representatives.

Khalequzzaman, convener of the socialist party, told reporters at a post-dialogue joint press briefing that the constitution needs to be amended to include benefits for the unemployed and uniformity in the education system.

“The country has been practising just the opposite of what is sanctified in the constitution. We have a free market and three separate education systems when the constitution says otherwise,” he said, adding, “the constitution should be either changed or followed.”

“A consensus among political parties will be built to form a commission or a committee. It is up to the next elected government to implement the committee’s recommendations or not,” Zillur told the briefing at the Chief Adviser’s Office.

He said the government agreed with a number of BSD proposals to correct, amend or annul a number of what the party said were constitutional inconsistencies.

Both the sides agreed this could be done through a “constitutional review commission” that could provide recommendations.

After the Gono Forum, BSD is the second party that has proposed such a constitutional review.

Zillur also dismissed doubt over success of the dialogue saying it would be completed even if it carried on until next month. He said this would not slow down polls preparations, adding the Election Commission would not be affected by these talks.

He said the dialogues are necessary to hold meaningful elections after consultations with a cross-section of the people.

The government also backtracked from a full-blown legal ban on hartal. Instead, it is trying to build a consensus among political parties to refrain from calling the general strikes.

The next dialogues are set to be held with Islami Oikya Jote on June 10 and with Unity for Political Reform (UPR) on June 11.