The party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, also the leader of the opposition, sent a letter to the committee chief, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, on Monday giving four specific reasons for skipping the meeting, committee sources said.
The special committee criticised the BNP for not attending the meeting and accused the opposition leader of trying to push the country into chaos.
'The language of Khaleda Zia's letter was beyond parliamentary norms,' the committee co-chair Suranjit Sengupta told a briefing at the parliament media centre.
The special committee on April 20 invited the BNP chairperson to Monday's meeting to have her party's opinions on constitution amendment.
Instead of joining the meeting, Khaleda sent a reply to the committee's invitation on Sunday night.
In her reply, Khaleda said it was 'meaningless' for her to attend the meeting, as it was an 'ill-motivated' move to realise the government's political objectives.
'No working paper or
specific proposals for constitution amendment or a copy of the printed constitution, gazetted on February 10, was attached to the invitation letter,' Khaleda stated in the reply.
It said, 'After publishing the full constitution in gazette notification on February 10, the law minister said that the printed constitution was in force, although it was printed bypassing the parliament in violation of Article 142.'
'When the people of the country rejected the reprinted constitution, the parliamentary special committee co-chairman said that the constitution printed on February 10 was a draft constitution on the basis of which the committee made various decisions at times till date,' Khaleda said in the reply.
The reply also said, 'The contradictory statements made and steps taken by the government have confused the nation resolution of which is essential. The people do not know the exact stand of the government on constitution amendment.'
In his reaction to Khaleda's reply, Suranjit said that the BNP was not discharging its constitutional and democratic duties as the opposition in parliament.
'Instead of attending the meetings, they [BNP] are trying to push the country towards undemocratic system,' said the committee spokesman.
He said that although there was an opportunity for a national consensus on
constitution amendment, the opposition was not cooperating with the committee.
Committee member Rashed Khan Menon said told the briefing that the BNP always relied on unconstitutional means for power and its refusal to attend the special committee meeting was a part of its attempt to lead the country towards unconstitutionality.
Committee member Tofail Ahmed thanked the BNP for recognising the committee through its letter, although it earlier branded the parliamentary panel unconstitutional.
'In her letter, Khaleda Zia has not branded the committee illegal, which is a shift from her previous position. I thank the BNP for this,' Tofail said.
Suranjit, however, said that the opposition still had the chance to give their opinions on constitution amendment when they would go to the house and the parliamentary standing committee on law.
He also said that the committee would not write further to the BNP over the matter and hoped that the opposition would return to the parliamentary bodies.
Rejecting the committee's allegation that the language of Khaleda's letter was 'discourteous' and 'ill-mannered', BNP at a press conference said the language of the letter was 'decent enough'.
Terming 'unacceptable' and 'ill-motivated' the process of holding the dialogues on constitution review, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed said, 'The government has shown utter irresponsibility in the way it has moved to change the constitution.'
When asked what steps the government should take in this regard to enable the opposition to take part in the process, Moudud said, 'We will be able to understand the government's position and come to know what changes the government wants to make in the constitution only when the constitution amendment bill will be placed in parliament after its approval by the cabinet.'
'And then we will take our decision,' he added.
Source: New Age
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