Five out of the six commissions set up to bring reforms in different sectors have yet to name their student representatives although 26 days have already passed out of 90 days they have been allotted to complete their tasks.
The separate gazettes have so far announced the names of 7–9 members of each commission, mentioning the student representative’s name for only the constitutional reform commission.
Md Mahmudul Hossain Khan, secretary for coordination and reforms at the Cabinet Division, the authority to issue gazettes regarding the reform commissions, told New Age on Tuesday, ‘My office has not received any instruction from the Council of Advisers yet.’
On October 16, in a recorded audio interview, Abdul Kader, a coordinator of Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said that the platform would propose the student representatives in a couple of days.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement led the student-mass uprising that toppled the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5.
Responding to New Age queries, Anti-Discrimination Student Movement spokesperson Umama Fatema on Monday said, ‘We have not yet finalised our proposals.’
She added that the platform was currently busy in pressing their five-point demand which is—revoking the constitution, president’s removal, declaring the ‘Proclamation of Second Republic’, cancelling the national elections held in 2014, 2018 and 2024, and banning Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The interim government banned Bangladesh Chhatra League on October 23.
After the fall of the Hasina-led government, the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as chief adviser assumed power on August 8. The Council of Advisers leading the interim government incorporated two student representatives Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain.
On October 3, separate gazettes were published announcing five reform commissions for judiciary, police, public administration, electoral system and Anti-Corruption Commission along with mentioning the names of their members except for the student representatives. The gazettes, however, mentioned a provision for including student representatives in the reform bodies.
On October 7, a gazette was published announcing the nine-member constitutional reform commission along with its members’ names, including that of the student representative.
Some of the reform commission chiefs, Iftekharuzzaman heading the Anti-Corruption Commission reform commission, and Badiul Alam Majumdar heading the electoral system chief among them, said that they were ready to welcome student representatives, adding that they already had representatives from the youth community.
Judiciary reform commission member Quazi Mahfujul Hoque Supan, also an associate professor of law at Dhaka University, said that the commission sought a student representative’s name to the Cabinet Division.
‘The person must have knowledge about the judicial system,’ he said.
Anti-Discrimination Student Movement coordinator Abdul Kader said that the criteria, including familiarity with judicial system, public administration, policing, anti-corruption, and electoral processes, as well as involvement in the recent movement, were set to select student representatives for the commissions.
On September 8, a 55-member Jatiya Nagorik Committee was formed to work towards fulfilling the goals of the Student Movement Against Discrimination.
Nasiruddin Patwary, convener of the platform, did not respond to phone calls and messages from New Age until Tuesday evening for comments regarding their recommendations of student representatives in the rest of the five reform commissions.
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