Four leftist parties, along with Gano Forum, refuse to sign the July Charter

Special Correspondent

Gano Forum and four leftist political parties have announced a boycott of the July Charter signing ceremony, which is scheduled to be held next Friday.

Masud Rana, coordinator of the Central Executive Forum of the Bangladesh Socialist Party (Marxist), told reporters after an emergency meeting called by the Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Wednesday, October 15.

He said, “We are boycotting the five-party charter signing ceremony.”

It is learned that the parties that have decided not to sign are Bangladesh Socialist Party (BSD), Bangladesh Socialist Party (Marxist), Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh JSD and Gono Forum.

Masud Rana told reporters, “Discussion of the basic principles of the constitution is not included in this purpose. Ideological-political issues should be kept out of the discussion. Because, consensus among the parties is not possible in this regard. Therefore, during the discussion in this part, four parties including us walked out. Apart from this, two parties also gave ‘notes of dissent’.”

He said, “We had expected that the charter would be written without this issue. But we did not see its reflection in the final draft. The history of our nation-building has also been wrongly presented in this charter. Which is not acceptable at all.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Kamal Hossain’s party, Gono Forum, has warned that they will not sign the July Charter until it is confirmed that the telegram regarding the declaration of independence of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 26, 1971 and the declaration of independence of the Mujibnagar government on April 10, 1971 will be included in the July Charter.