Staff Reporter:
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has termed the July National Charter Implementation Order illegal, saying they had refrained from speaking out at the time for the sake of the parliamentary election.
He also said they had compromised on many issues and signed the charter to ensure the polls would not be obstructed under the pretext of reforms.
The home minister made the remarks while speaking on the thanksgiving motion on the president’s address in the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday.
Salahuddin, who led the BNP in the National Consensus Commission dialogues, said the first decision in the commission was on amending Article 70 of the constitution.
“There was no issue of a note of dissent. However, on the very day the decision on Article 70 was made, it was also decided that the charter would be drafted incorporating notes of dissent. Ultimately, it was signed accordingly.”
Addressing the opposition, he said, “You signed it. We signed it as well. Let us now implement that July Charter.”
Following the signing of the charter, an order was issued to implement it.
Terming the order illegal and unconstitutional, Salahuddin said the BNP Standing Committee held a press conference in Gulshan declaring that the party and its allies would not accept anything beyond the July National Charter.
Addressing leaders of the National Citizen Party, the home minister said, “I would tell our young friends that a party exhausted itself by selling the spirit of 1971 and was forced to flee. Let us not turn the spirit of July into a political commodity. July belongs to all of us.”
