Jamaat-e-Islami has stated that they will not sign the July National Charter unless the proportional representation (PR) system is included for elections in both houses of the national parliament and the charter is put to a public referendum in November.
Mia Golam Parwar, the party’s Secretary General, said this on Thursday (October 16) at a seminar titled “Legal Basis of the July National Charter, Referendum, and PR System Elections” held at the Diploma Engineers Institute in Kakrail. He mentioned that although they have been invited to the signing ceremony scheduled for the next day, they will not attend if unresolved issues related to the charter remain. However, if there is room for discussion and resolution, they have no objection to participating.
Parwar urged Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus to include the PR system for both houses in the draft charter and present it to the public for a referendum. He said the public’s decision must be respected whether they accept or reject it, but ignoring the people’s opinion is unacceptable.
He also pointed out that holding the referendum and election on the same day would cause major problems and urged that the referendum be held separately in November.
Parwar accused a few advisors of the caretaker government of secretly collaborating with a particular party to mislead the Chief Advisor and obstruct democratic progress. He warned the Chief Advisor to remain vigilant.
He added that all past sacrifices and efforts for reform would be in vain if the state is allowed to be captured by a single party through manipulative designs. He called for alertness on this matter.
