Staff Reporter:
BNP senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday warned that if the next national election not held within the announced February timeline could pose national and regional security threats.
“Please find a fully implementable process. You have already taken opinions from many experts. If you feel any of their suggestions are appropriate and decide to implement them, you are at liberty …we will have no objection,” he told the Chief Adviser.
Speaking at the National Consensus Commission (NCC) meeting at the Foreign Service Academy, in the presence of the Chief Adviser, the BNP leader also urged Prof Yunus to seek opinions from the judiciary if it necessary.
“We do not think that 15 out of 19 constitutional reform proposals are legally feasible for implementa-tion in the current context. But if you take the initiative, consult the judiciary, or decide on another course of action, and invite us to discuss it, we will always cooperate,” he said.
Salahuddin, a BNP Standing Committee member, however, said reforms, justice and elections should not be seen as mutually interdependent.
“Reform will continue, as reform is a continuous process. Justice can never be bound by a time lim-it…no matter which government is in power, the trial will go on,” he said.
Reaffirming BNP’s position, Salahuddin said the election must be held on schedule in February as di-rected by the Chief Adviser.
“There can be no conditions attached to it. We believe that through further efforts by the National Con-sensus Commission, and with the Chief Adviser’s personal initiative, a solution will be achieved,” he concluded.
About reaching a national consensus on many issues, he said there are still several areas that need re-form, which perhaps could not be fully traced due to time constraints. “Those issues need to be traced and addressed in the days to come.”
The BNP leader said they received 826 proposals for reforms and submitted their party’s written opin-ions after discussions in the party forum. We disagreed on only 51 proposals, and placed different views over 115 proposals.
He warned against the faulty implementation process saying the reforms will not sustain if it is chal-lenged in the court in future. “It should take a proper time to make the implementation sustainable,” Salahuddin said.
Referring to dissenting notes on some issues in the National July Charter, he said the ‘notes of dissent’ were registered on some of the 19 constitutional issues and the political parties should sign the charter with notes of dissent. The party which gets the public mandate (in the election) must implement the charter except the issues with their notes of dissent.
Over the question of authority to implement the constitutional reform issues by any other forum other than parliament, the BNP leader said the legal advice can be taken from the Supreme Court on this. “We can go there and take assistance (from the Supreme Court). “Beyond that, if there is anything, let us know—we agree. We are ready to sign the Charter,” he said.
Calling for keeping up the anti-fascist unity and transforming it into strength, Salahuddin said compro-mise and more negotiations are necessary to find an implementation way. “If any path is found through dialogue, we will agree.”
Noting that the final version of July Charter has some clerical mistakes and slight confusion. He said, “We will correct those—it is not major.”
But since it is a national, political, and historic document, it must be flawless. Issues not discussed should not be included. The less the controversy, the better,” he said.
Describing the July Charter as a national and historical document of political compromise, he said it must be flawless.
Salahuddin said the Charter should be kept above the Constitution and should be made immune from judicial review. “No document can exist that cannot be questioned in court. Placing the Charter above the Constitution is unacceptable. Still, there are ways to give it legitimacy—such as seeking advice from the Appellate Division whether an Extra Constitutional or Special Constitutional Order can be issued,” he said.
National Consensus Commission Vice Chairman Prof Ali Riaz, Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul, Jamaat leader AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad and National Citizen Party leader Akhter Hossen also spoke at the program, conducted by Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Haider.
