Staff Reporter:
National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam yesterday reiterated that the recently announced July National Charter must have a legal foundation, saying such a step is essential to ensure the docu-ment truly represents the people’s aspirations.
“We have said this before and we repeat it today – if the July Charter has no legal basis, it will carry no meaning. We did not take part in the ceremony because without legal foundation, the whole exercise will be nothing but a deception with the nation,” Nahid told during a press conference at the party’s tempo-rary office in the capital’s Banglamotor area yesterday noon.
NCP Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain and several senior leaders of the party were present at the brief-ing.
Nahid said that after the 1990 mass uprising, the political compromise agreed among the three major alliances was not maintained, and therefore any change to an important national instrument like the Con-stitution now requires a clear legal foundation.
“Efforts are being made, both from inside and outside the country, to preserve the old fascist framework under the guise of protecting the 1972 Constitution. There are attempts to sustain and safeguard that fas-cist order in various ways,” Nahid said.
The NCP leader credited the government’s decision to form the Consensus Commission and advance re-form talks in “pressure from the NCP, several other political parties, and the student-public alliance that led the July Uprising”.
Nahid said, “Our struggle during the July uprising was not only against Sheikh Hasina or the Awami League, but against a fascist system itself. A mere change in political leadership will not solve Bangla-desh’s democratic crisis – it must go through structural reform”.
Referring to the clashes between police and “July fighters” on Friday, Nahid said, “What happened yes-terday was an insult to the martyrs’ families and a denial of people’s participation.”
He added that the July Charter would only become meaningful when Chief Adviser Professor Muham-mad Yunus issues an order giving it a legal foundation – to be followed by a national referendum, an elected parliament, and a constitutional assembly to draft a new Constitution.
At the briefing, NCP Member-Secretary Akhtar Hossain said that the party would launch street programs demanding legal recognition of the July Charter.
He said, “We played a vital role in the Consensus Commission. Although initially some parties wanted to treat the July Charter as just a gentleman’s agreement or a political understanding, we insisted on giving it legal validity.”
The NCP also demanded an investigation into Friday’s clashes between police and July protesters at Man-ik Mia Avenue.
