Absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah’ to return to Constitution

Photo: Collected

News Desk: Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said that the July National Charter is the government's priority. However, he said the government would also incorporate the issues for which it received a mandate under its election manifesto. “We will restore ‘absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah’ to the Constitution,” he said, adding that the phrase had been incorporated into Article 8 as a fundamental principle of state policy by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman. He said this was a commitment in the government's election manifesto.

He made the remarks at a press conference held at the media centre of the Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday (September 27) after the third meeting of the Constitutional Reform Committee. The constitutional amendment bill is expected to be placed in the first session of parliament in January next year.

Regarding the referendum, Salahuddin Ahmed, convener of the Special Committee on Constitutional Reform, said Article 142 had been revived after the Supreme Court scrapped the 15th Amendment to the Constitution following the mass uprising of students and the public on August 5. He said changes could be made to certain provisions of the Constitution, including the preamble and Articles 8, 48, 56 and 142. Any amendments to these provisions would require a referendum before the President signs them, he said. The constitutional referendum would be held after the bill is passed.

Regarding the proposal for a referendum to safeguard the caretaker government system, he said the BNP had made a proposal in this regard. He said the party had proposed that amendments to the relevant constitutional provisions should also require a referendum so that no future parliament could easily abolish the caretaker government system, for which the party had campaigned for 17 years.

Regarding the timeline for constitutional reform, the committee convener said efforts were underway to present the Constitutional Reform Committee's report to parliament by December. Based on the report, a bill would be prepared by the Ministry of Law. He expressed hope that the bill could be placed in parliament during the January session, the first session of the year. After discussions and amendments, the bill would be passed and then finalised through a referendum.