Ali Riaz replaces Shahdeen Malik as head of Constitution Reform Commission

The decision comes just 10 days after the interim government had initially announced the name of lawyer Shahdeen Malik as the commission's head

Teacher and columnist Ali Riaz has been appointed as the head of the Constitution Reform Commission.

The Cabinet Division announced the appointment in a notification on Wednesday.

This comes just 10 days after the interim government had initially announced the name of lawyer Shahdeen Malik as the commission's head.

Riaz has now been appointed to replace him in this role.

The Cabinet Division has requested the formation of the commission, led by Riaz, and has outlined its terms of reference, asking for secretarial assistance to be provided to the commission.

Riaz is a professor at Illinois State University in the United States. He was previously the literary secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union, or DUCSU.

He pursued higher studies in the United Kingdom before moving to the US, where he completed his PhD in political science from the University of Hawaiʻi in 1993 under the East-West Center fellowship.

In a national address on Sept 11, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus announced the formation of six commissions aimed at reforms across sectors, including the Constitution Reform Commission, which was initially to be headed by Malik.

Following the change in government, Yunus declared the formation of commissions to reform election processes, police administration, the judiciary, the Anti-Corruption Commission, public administration, and the constitution, as a preliminary step to push forward the reform agenda in light of the altered political scenario.