File photo of Dr Ali Riaz

DHAKA, Mar 20, 2025 (BSS) - Dr. Ali Riaz, head of the Constitution Reform Commission and vice-chairman of the National Consensus Commission, today said if there is no reform, fascism may return even if the government is formed through fair elections.

“Reforms are not just a matter of the government’s will, it is a much-desired matter of political parties and citizens. Therefore, to establish a national consensus on reforms and formulate a citizen’s charter, citizens must be vocal," he said.

He made these comments at a roundtable discussion on ‘Political Consensus and Citizens’ Thoughts in State Reforms’ initiated by the civic organization Shujan – Citizens for Good Governance at the ATM Shamsul Haque Auditorium of CIRDAP.

Shujon secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar chaired the roundtable which was addressed by Justice Emdadul Haque, member of the National Consensus Commission, former secretary Abdul Awal Majumder, former professor of Jahangirnagar University Dr. Dilara Chowdhury, special assistant to the chief adviser Monir Haider, associate professor of the Department of Development Studies of Dhaka University Dr. Asif Mohammad Sahan, senior journalist Abu Sayeed Khan, proprietor of University Press Limited Mahrukh Mohiuddin.

Dilip Kumar Sarkar, central coordinator of Shujon presented the keynote speech.

Dr. Ali Riaz said that the reason why the question of state reform arose is that fragile institutions in Bangladesh have been made even more fragile in the last 15 years.

No initiative has been taken to build any institution in the last 54 years after independence, he said.

"We have seen how the judiciary has been destroyed in the last 15 years. If the reform program is not implemented, if the administration and judiciary are not reorganized, even if a government is formed through fair elections, the fascist regime may return. Therefore, to prevent the resurgence of dictatorship in Bangladesh in the future, structural changes must be made, and to build an accountable state, reform programs must be implemented," said Ali Riaz.

Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder said Sheikh Hasina established an authoritarian regime in the country.

It took her 15 years to reach this system. She destroyed the electoral system and institutional structure, he said.

“After Sheikh Hasina fled due to mass uprising on August 5, a wonderful opportunity has been created to rebuild our state structure,” he added.

For this purpose, the National Consensus Commission is working so that a ‘Citizens’ Charter’ can be created, he said.

He also said the interim government has three mandates, one is to make some important reforms so that the authoritarian system cannot return, secondly to bring those guilty of crimes against humanity to justice, and thirdly to organize a fair and free election and these can happen simultaneously, none of them is in conflict with the other.

Justice Emdadul Haque said various questions and controversies have arisen in the past regarding the judiciary. The Judicial Reform Commission has mentioned these issues in detail in its report and has made necessary recommendations. "

“I think that reform is an ongoing process. But now it is the time to implement the reform program," he said.

Dr. Dilara Chowdhury said, “Although there are many problems among our political parties, the state must be run through political parties. For this, the reforms of political parties and democratic practices within the parties must continue. Reform is an ongoing process. Therefore, a number of logical reforms must be made and elections must be organized as soon as possible."

Abdul Awal Majumder said, "The main problem of Bangladesh is the lack of mutual trust. Our political parties do not trust each other. One party thinks that the other party will oppress them if it comes to power. Therefore, if we want to move forward, we have to establish social harmony.”

Regarding the reform proposals of various commissions, he said, “It is necessary to not have the provision of the President being the head of the caretaker government, to create a separate commission for delimitation, to make local government elections under the caretaker government, not to take PS and APS government officials from outside of the ministers, and to have a nomination system instead of application in the appointment of ACC"

Abu Saeed Khan said, “There is consensus on many issues in the reform commissions. But there are several issues that have been provoked by the reform proposals. For example, proposing the word civic democracy instead of the word people's republic. There is also controversy over the argument given by the Constitution Reform Commission for maintaining Islam as the state religion. The liberation war was fought mainly out of the desire to build a secular state against the exploitation of the Pakistani ruling class on the basis of religion. The constitution achieved through the liberation war cannot be discarded. Rather, the old laws in it must be abolished by amending the constitution.”

Dr. Asif Mohammad Sahan said, "There is currently a national consensus in the country regarding reforms. For reforms, some institutional structures need to be changed. For example, checks and balances can be established by establishing an upper house and a lower house of parliament."