The issue of the Constitutional Reform Council was discussed at an emergency meeting of the Liaison Committee of the 11-party opposition alliance yesterday.
After the meeting, Hamidur Rahman Azad, assistant general secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and coordinator of the 11-party electoral alliance, told reporters that the government will complete 30 days in office on March 15.
“If the government does not convene or make arrangements to convene the session of the Constitutional Reform Council as per the July Charter within this time, it will not be forgiven by the nation,” he said, adding that the responsibility for this would be on the government, including the leader of the House.
He warned that if immediate steps were not taken to implement the July Charter the coalition would be forced to launch street protests with public support. Top leaders of the alliance will meet soon and announce protest programs.
Azad also said that since two votes were held on the same day, two sessions of Parliament and the Reform Council should also be called. “But only the session of the National Parliament has been called,” he said.
He said that although BNP MPs took oath as MPs in line with the party’s decision, they did not take oath as members of the Reform Council. According to him, this shows that the BNP has taken a “U-turn” after forming the government and gone to a completely opposite position, which he described as a betrayal of the nation and an insult to those who voted “yes” in the referendum.