July Charter formulated by interim government has no legal basis: Home Minister

Home Minister Mr. Salahuddin Ahmed has said the July Charter, which the interim government prepared, has no direct legal basis. He made it clear, however, that the political understanding behind it matters far more than any legal basis.

He spoke yesterday at the July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum in Sher e Bangla Nagar in the capital. The occasion was a session titled “Constitutional Crisis of Bangladesh After Independence and BAKSAL,” part of the Democratic Journey seminar series.

The Home Minister said, “Does the July National Charter, which was made during the time of the interim government, have any legal basis? No. But this political understanding is more than a legal basis.”

He then explained the background of the charter’s legal recognition. Near the end of the National Consensus Commission, people asked whether the public wanted the charter or not. A big debate also began over giving it a legal basis. He said that at that point, the issue needed a final decision.

Mr. Salahuddin Ahmed also said many kinds of discussions took place at that time on how to give the charter a legal basis. He said, “We said even then that we should go to the Supreme Court. But no one agreed. Later, when we talked with the Supreme Court informally, they also did not want to take this responsibility. The court told us that this is a political matter, and that we should solve it politically ourselves.”