The National Citizen Party (NCP) will not sign the July Charter unless three preconditions are met, party convener Nahid Islam said on Thursday (October 16), warning that any signature without a firm legal footing and an implementing order would be “meaningless”. 

Addressing a press conference at the party’s central office in Banglamotor, Dhaka, Nahid said, "several parties have recorded notes of dissent on aspects of the reform proposals — a normal occurrence, he added — and reiterated the NCP’s demand that those dissenting points be put to a referendum. If voters endorse them, the July Charter would be approved and a future parliament, vested with constituent power, would amend the Constitution accordingly." 

He stressed that a binding order must anchor the entire process, guiding both the referendum and subsequent steps.

Alleging irregularities around the earlier July declaration, Nahid said a prior insistence on legal underpinnings was ignored and that the text read at the time differed from what had been shown to his party beforehand. 

He argued that the declaration failed to capture key elements of the popular uprising’s historical narrative, a shortcoming the NCP later criticised.

The NCP will not endorse “another event without substance”, he said, insisting that without assurances on legal basis and the content of the forthcoming government order, any signing ceremony would be purely ceremonial. The public, he argued, deserves clarity on how the charter will be implemented, and political parties have a right to know the steps the authorities intend to take.

To ensure the July Charter’s success, Nahid outlined three conditions for the government:

1 Publish the draft implementation order before any signing. The order should be issued by Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, reflecting the sovereign will of the people. 

2. Submit all 84 charter items to a single referendum, with no separate legal effect for individual notes of dissent; the referendum questions must be finalised and disclosed in advance.

3. If voters approve the charter, empower the next parliament with constituent authority to enact constitutional reforms, with the amended Constitution to be designated “2026”.

Once these points are settled, the NCP would be comfortable joining a signing ceremony, Nahid said. Until then, signing would be an empty formality. On elections, he added that polls must be held in February and that the party’s activities are being held up pending steps by the Election Commission.

SMS/