Dhaka, July 21 (IANS) A parliamentary committee to be announced Wednesday will begin a review of Bangladesh’s constitution.
Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has kept out of what was billed an all-party body. It decided Tuesday night to stay away and announced the continuation of its anti-government stir with a hunger strike Sunday.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, the current leader of the opposition in parliament, consulted legal and constitutional experts of her party before taking the decision.
A seat for BNP will be left vacant, ruling Awami League Chief Whip Abdus Shahid told New Age newspaper.
Bangladesh enacted its statute in 1972. Nationalism, democracy, secularism and socialism were enshrined as the basic tenets.
After the assassination of its founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and during the 1975-90 military-led phase of governance, ‘socialism’ was dropped and ‘secularism’ was replaced by a declaration of the country as an Islamic Republic.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to announce 18 names, leaving out the BNP, for the 19-member body that will review all amendments brought to the constitution in 38 years.
The committee will be headed by the deputy leader of the house, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, who is a member of the Awami League presidium.
Other members to be included are Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and those who fought in the 1971 freedom movement, including Abdur Razzak and Tofael Ahmed.
Representatives from other parties include Jatiya Party lawmaker Anisul Islam Mahmud, Workers Party’s Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal’s Hasanul Haq Inu and National Awami Party’s Amina Ahmed.
