EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

           

 

The consultation process

Opposition needs to be engaged

Appreciatively, the parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendment involved all conceivable cross-sections of society in a consultation process that seems to have concluded the day before yesterday. To our mind, it has not quite ended.

There has been one lacuna. For neither the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), nor its alliance partners, nor the opposition-leaning members of the civil society and the intelligentsia did participate in the consultation.

In spite of that, some valid points have come to the fore. The caretaker government system has been tampered with. This has led to the participants at the consultation laying emphasis on strengthening the Election Commission (EC) with a renewed vigour. In a bid to have the chief of the caretaker government in its favour, a ruling party had resorted to increasing the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges and appointment of party loyalists superseding seniors was taken recourse to. Such practices have only compromised the integrity and credibility of the judiciary.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the EC has to be made autonomous both structurally and financially so that it can work independently. And that the appointments of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the commissioners have to be made in strict conformity with constitutional provision by choosing impartial and non-partisan persons for the posts.

That way, the EC will not only be able to function independently, but it would also not remain beholden to the government of the day.

The opposition keeping out of the consultation process is neither congenial to, nor desirable for reaching a consensus on constitutional amendment.

To that end, the government will need to go the extra mile to engage the opposition in the process. But the opposition must also not capitalise on the issue as a ploy to push its political agenda. If it goes that way, it will be doing disservice to the nation as well as to its constituencies.

Let us not forget that the constitutional amendment issue is not the creation of the government. Actually, it has taken centre stage in consequence of a court verdict that necessitated legislation. As such, the opposition would do good to itself and the nation by looking at the whole issue from that standpoint.