Ali Riaz said any failure in this process would be a shared responsibility

National Consensus Commission Vice Chair Professor Ali Riaz on Tuesday called on all political parties to show greater flexibility on the remaining reform issues, warning that failure to finalise the National Charter by July would be a shared responsibility.

“We must work together to forge consensus on a National Charter. This must be a collective effort. For that to happen, we urge each party to make some adjustments to their stance. But we are working against time, so please keep the deadline in mind,” he said.

He made the remarks while chairing the 14th day of the second round of reform talks with political parties at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

Professor Riaz noted that consensus had already been reached on several constitutional matters, while others had been agreed in principle earlier, though some critical points still remained unresolved.

“We will continue to engage on the outstanding issues,” he said, stressing that the burden of any failure to reach consensus would not rest solely on the Commission.

“If there is a failure, it will be a collective failure. If the Commission falls short, that failure must be seen as all of ours,” he emphasised.

He also reminded the participants that the mandate of the Consensus Commission was built on cooperation with the political parties. “We are only partners in your process,” he added.

The Commission has called for all remaining issues to be resolved in the coming days to meet the end-of-July deadline.

Tuesday’s discussions focused on major constitutional reform proposals, including the establishment of an Upper House in a future bicameral legislature and the matter of women’s reserved seats.

A total of 30 political parties — including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Nationalist Consensus Party (NCP) — took part in the session to share their positions on the unresolved reforms.

The Commission aims to finalise a common political position on nearly 20 core reform proposals by 31 July and to publish the National Charter — a consensus-based roadmap for state restructuring.

The second round of dialogue was launched on 2 June by Chief Adviser and Commission Chairman Professor Muhammad Yunus.