Staff Correspondent:

Co-chair of the national consensus commission, Ali Riaz, has said that it will be possible to prepare the July Charter within July this year. He said, “The national consensus commission is committed to prepare the July Charter within July.”

Ali Riaz was speaking at the second round of talks held by the national consensus commission to complete unfinished discussions with the political parties. The discussions began at around 11:45 pm on Tuesday, at Doel Hall of the Foreign Service Academy, on Bailey Road in the capital.

The discussion was joined by representatives of BNP, NCP, Islami Andolan, Nagorik Oikya, Gono Odhikar Parishad, Gono Sanghati Andolan and other political parties. No leader of Jamaat-e-Islami turned up at the meeting.

Co-chair of the national consensus committee Ali Riaz said, “The national consensus commission is committed to prepare the National Charter within July. We are sincerely grateful to the political parties and political leaders for the cooperation you all are extending in this regard.”

Ali Riaz said, “We hope that if the process continues, we will be able to reach our goal. We are endeavouring to reach an overall consensus, even if we do not agree on all issues.” He said, “We may not be able to reach a consensus all every issues, but even so, we can make certain concessions in the interests of the national and the state so as to arrive at one point. There is no guarantee that we will be able to complete all issues.”

The issues discussed at today’s meeting included Article 70 of the constitution, nominating heads of the standing committees, women’s representation, and more.

Talks were also held on a bicameral parliament (with an upper and lower house), the process of appointing the chief justice and several other issues. The commission is scheduled to hold discussions on 17, 18 and 19 June with the political parties.

Attending the discussion on behalf of the national consensus commission are Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Safar Raj Hossain, Badiul Alam Majumdar, Iftekharuzzaman and others.