Consensus Commission’s Ali Riaz hopes to conclude meetings with political parties by first half of May

Islami Andolan proposes renaming the country’s constitutional title and implementation of the Shariah law

National Consensus Commission Vice-Chairman Ali Riaz hopes to wrap up meetings with the political parties on reforms by the first half of May.

He spoke to the media after the Islami Andolan Bangladesh submitted its views on the recommendations made by the reform panels on Thursday.

Islami Andolan is the seventh party the commission sat with to review the recommendations.

Riaz said, "The tenure of the Consensus Commission is until mid-July. We are already in talks with the parties. We hope to complete the initial discussions by the first or second week of May."

He said the next phase will start after reviewing the proposals made by the parties.

The commission, led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, began its work on Feb 15. It aims to hold discussions with political parties and forces to build a national consensus and review recommendations from the other reform panels ahead of the next parliamentary elections.

After different reform commissions submitted their recommendations, the consensus panel requested 38 political parties to provide their feedback on them by Mar 13.

Six parties have yet to respond.

The Consensus Commission launched the dialogue from Mar 20 to finalise the recommendations based on the parties’ outlooks.

So far, the commission has held talks with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Khelafat Majlish, Bangladesh Labour Party, Rastro Songskar Andolan (State Reform Movement), Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party), and Nagorik Oikya, or Citizens’ Unity.

The commission is scheduled to hold talks with Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSoD) and Zaker Party on Saturday.

‘CHANGE STATE TITLE, INTRODUCE SHARIAH LAW’

The Islami Andolan proposed to change the country’s constitutional title to “People's Welfare State of Bangladesh” and the introduction of Shariah law.

It said out of 182 recommendations in the Consensus Commission’s reform spreadsheet, they agreed to 145 and disagreed with 26, partially agreeing with the rest.

The party also proposed four "fundamental" proposals, including 41 new and proportional representation (PR) voting systems.

Ashraf Ali Akon, a presidium member of the party, later told journalists: "Four basic proposals have been made to establish a welfare state free of corruption and terrorism to maintain justice, good governance, development, and human rights protection in all sectors.”

The party’s four proposals included “self-purification, accountability, the enactment of Shariah law, and the introduction of PR system elections to both parliament chambers”.

He said, "We agree with the recommendation to change the country’s name."

Asked about the title proposed by the party, he said: "We are calling Bangladesh the People's Welfare State of Bangladesh. We have proposed this name because the word ‘public welfare’ will help to stop negative thoughts in people’s minds."

Turning attention to “persisting” criminal acts like rape, theft, robbery, and terrorism, Akon said: "The government led by Muhammad Yunus has not been able to stop the crimes.

"We have proposed to formulate and implement the Shariah law so that the government becomes a protector instead of being an exploiter and for a provision of exemplary punishment to stop rape, corruption, and terrorism."