Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the proposed 18th constitutional amendment would be a historic constitutional change of the century and advance the aspirations of the July uprising.
He spoke Wednesday at a reception and discussion for bereaved families and July uprising participants organized by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center in Dhaka.
Ahmed said the government was committed to implementing every provision of the July National Charter and that constitutional amendment work was moving forward. He urged people to build national unity rather than pursue divisive politics around the uprising.
He said a first meeting of the constitutional-amendment committee had already been held and all political parties had been invited to participate. Constitutional changes must be adopted by Parliament, he said.
Ahmed said the government planned to introduce a prevention and remedy law on enforced disappearances in the next Parliament, with severe penalties, including the death penalty, for systematic enforced disappearance. This describes the minister’s stated proposal, not an enacted law.
He said the uprising was the outcome of a longer movement from 2009 to 2024, and alleged that opposition parties and pro-democracy activists had faced disappearances, killings, torture and cases during that period. Those were political claims made by the minister.
Ahmed said the government would seek public input from journalists, lawyers and experts on an amendment that could endure for many years. He also said the government was considering separate categories of support for injured uprising participants and inclusion for people not yet listed.
On the Awami League, Ahmed said legal changes had created a basis for prosecution of a political organization and that a court, rather than an executive order, should determine the party’s future. He said the July Uprising Memorial Museum should serve as a warning against future authoritarian conduct.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report