Constitutional Amendment : No Amendment Without Mandate
News papers have reported that the BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Friday said the Awami League was planning to do away with the caretaker government system by amending the constitution as it wanted to cling to power by vote rigging.‘Awami League wants to clear the way for its retaining power by vote rigging and that’s why they are planning to scrap the caretaker government system. But the people will not accept the move,’ he said.Delwar also found no rationale for seeking suggestion of the Law Commission for amendment of the constitution. He said the ministry concerned could take initiatives in this regard and the issue could be discussed in the parliamentThe BNP leader came up with the views while talking to newsmen at his Armanitola house in Old Town of Dhaka on Friday.The minister for law, Shafique Ahmed, on Thursday said the government had initiated a move to ‘update the constitution’ by bringing 15th amendment with changes in various provisions, including the ones related to the caretaker government, tenure of the parliament and the local government systemDelwar said the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami had jointly forged a movement in 1996 for introduction of the caretaker government system and it was introduced as per section 266 of the constitution and by consensus among all parties. He said four general elections had taken place under the system although the last election was the ‘result of conspiracies at home and abroad.The BNP leader said any amendments to the constitution had to be made on the basis of an all-party consensus after discussion in the house. Besides the opinion of the majority in the house, opinion of the public should also be sought before amending the constitution, he added.‘No changes to the constitution should be made unilaterally,’ he said.Delwar, however, welcomed the comments of LGRD minister Syed Ashraful Islam that the proposed amendments would be made after discussion among all parties.Delwar said the BNP would return to the house and take part in discussion on the issue if an environment was created to enable the party to join the parliament. ‘Create the environment and we will join the parliament session,’ he said. In response Sajeda chowdhury said that BNP had made many amendments that the original constitution can not be recognized.
We feel that no constitutional amendment can be made for such change in the constitution for which Awami League has not taken specific mandate in the election.For instance scrapping caretaker government and change in the Islamic character of the constitution ( provisions regarding faith in Allah as first pillar of the constitution and Islam as state religion. We have said before that Awami League is committed to the Quran and Sunnah whatever be the reason and as such they can not take such steps. State religion is there in many democratic countries with simultaneous guarantees .This is also the case in
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