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Constitutional reforms must stop
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emeritus president of Gonoforum.
“The horrific and harrowing events in the past few months have touched our hearts… It is our duty to amend the constitution ... so that such a situation does not arise in the future. May we enshrine these teachings in the basic structure of our constitution, so that no citizen is ever subjected to injustice.”
Dr Kamal said Abul Mansur believed “true democracy can ensure overall development of a nation. Bangladesh youths who were denied their voting rights led an unprecedented mass uprising, reminding [us] of the immense power and necessity of democracy at every level of society.
“Recent movements have shown us that the real strength of a nation lies in the empowerment of the people… We need to enshrine the values ​​of democracy in our constitution.”
Ensuring a fair and impartial electoral system is essential to democracy and the judiciary independent and impartial, Dr Kamal said.
Constitution expert and lawyer Arif Khan in his keynote speech said that Abul Mansur was one of the central characters of our political history.
If Mansur’s thoughts on the constitution is summarised, one sees that he believed mass emancipation is rooted to universal voting rights, he said.
“He believed in a parliamentary system of government and multi-party democracy. He considered democratic socialism as the most acceptable method of gaining political and economic emancipation for Bangladesh.”
Mansur also believed that the people are the real owners of the state. He felt that the 1970 election was a major victory for secularism and he supported a rigid constitution with tougher provisions to amend it, said Arif.
Arif said a prime minister should not serve more than twice. He recommends shifting some power of the PM to independent institutions, revising Article 70 and completely separating the judiciary.
Columnist Sarwar Tushar said that he was in favour of developing a new constitution.
Writer Zahed Ur Rahman said a monolithic society can never be democratic.
Jahangirnagar University teacher Mirza Taslima Sultana said the existing constitution has some provisions that can make a government autocrat.
Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, said, “It is unfortunate that there is a culture that before elections a lot of promises are made to make people happy but after assuming power, interest of their parties are served.
“The constitution will be a literal version of the new Bangladesh that we are dreaming of. And implementation of this framework will be through an elected leadership, we must ensure that we do not deviate from our core values,” he added.
Writer Jalal Firoj also spoke at the event.
Six winners of a speech competition organised by Abul Mansur Ahmad Smriti Parishad and Torkojaal were awarded.

Another
FROM PAGE 2
All the accused were charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
Farhan Faiyaz was a second-year student at DRMC. He was shot multiple times while attending a protest rally of students near Dhanmondi. After being taken to a hospital in Mohammadpur in a critical condition, he was declared dead by doctors.