12-party alliance urges swift consensus on minimum reforms

Chief Coordinator of the 12-party alliance and Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar) Chairman Mustafa Jamal Haider has urged the National Consensus Commission to reach a consensus over minimum reform proposals without unnecessary delay.

"We are not willing to waste time day after day. We should quickly reach a minimum level of consensus. If some issues remain incomplete or disputed, we can reform them in the course of time," he said at a dialogue with the Commission today (4 May).

An 11-member delegation from the alliance, led by him, took part in the dialogue presided over by Commission Vice Chairman Prof Ali Riaz.

Prof Ali Riaz urged political parties to encourage their like-minded allies to work towards a consensus over reforms by bridging differences at least on fundamental issues.

"As political forces, we have the hope, belief and trust in you that you will talk to others, inspire your friendly political forces to narrow down the differences, and come to a common ground through which we can reach an agreement," he said.

Haider said having differences and disagreements among political parties are quite natural. "This is the beauty and strength of democracy. Still, we must reach a consensus on minimum reforms so that no scope is left for authoritarian rule to reemerge."

He said the actual goal should be to ensure that no new powerful person or chief justice in the future can manipulate the constitution to impose autocracy by exploiting loopholes in the existing state structure.

He stressed the urgency of entrusting state power to elected public representatives to fulfill the democratic aspirations of the nation.

Mustafa Jamal Haider, however, said the commission is making efforts to address long-standing structural inconsistencies and problems accumulated over the decades.

Prof Riaz said, "We don't believe that sitting at this table alone will lead us to the final destination of national consensus. Our role is that of a catalyst, and we are making that effort."

He said each political party has placed its opinion over reform proposals but all must compromise to some extent to reach consensus.

Citing that building national consensus is not solely the commission's responsibility, Prof Riaz said, "You who are engaged in the struggle and are in dialogues with us today should talk to your allies and other political forces to explore how we can come together."

Consensus Commission members Safar Raj Hossain, Badiul Alam Majumdar and Mohammad Ayub Miah were present at the discussion, moderated by Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Monir Haider.

The 12-party alliance has expressed agreement with 111 out of the 166 reform proposals placed by the National Consensus Commission, disagreed with 48 and refrained from giving opinions on seven proposals.

On 20 March, the Consensus Commission opened a series of talks with political parties to forge a national consensus on state reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government.

The commission has already held talks with 23 political parties, including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP).