Staff Correspondent 

The National Consensus Commission started the 18th day of its second-round dialogue with political parties on Wednesday morning, aiming to reach decisions on important reform issues.

The discussion began at about 11:00am at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital with NCC Vice Chair Prof Ali Riaz presiding.

At the outset, three left-leaning parties—Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Basod, and Bangladesh Jasod—staged a symbolic 10-minute walkout in protest against what they called the interim government’s ‘authoritarian conduct’ following Monday’s tragic crash of an aircraft into Milestone School and College in Diabari, Uttara.

“We are deeply shocked and outraged. This heinous attack on teachers, students and women following the Milestone incident is the shadow of what we witnessed during past autocratic regimes,” CPB President Ruhin Hossain Prince said during the protest.

“We have shown gross irresponsibility here (following the air crash),” he said.

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He questioned why two advisers of the interim government visited the Uttara crash site, as they did not go to Gopalganj after another incident there.

“It is the same shadow of autocracy,” he said, adding that one adviser even claimed the incident was part of a conspiracy against the government, much like autocratic Hasina used to say in the past after such an incident.

The walkout was joined and endorsed by the leaders of two other parties.

Reacting to the symbolic protest, Prof Ali Riaz said, “We welcome what rights they exercised as political parties and citizens. We think their views have been presented and the government will consider it (take their concerns into account).”

Turning to the reform dialogue, he urged the political parties to prepare for marathon discussions on Sunday and Monday next in a bid to wrap up reform decisions by the July 31 deadline.

Several important issues, including the formation of an appointment committee for five key crucial institutions are being discussed in the 17th session of the second-round dialogue.

Some 30 political parties, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party-NCP are taking part in the talks to present their respective positions on the proposed reforms.

The Consensus Commission aims to finalise a unified stance on key reform proposals by July 31 after completing discussions on nearly 20 major constitutional issues during the ongoing second-round dialogue.

Consensus Commission begins talks with political parties

On June 2, Chief Adviser and Commission Chairman Prof Muhammad Yunus inaugurated the second-round dialogues.

Formed on February 15, 2025, under the leadership of Chief Adviser Prof Yunus, the Commission was tasked with forging a unified national stance on crucial state reforms.

The Commission held its first-round talks with the political parties and alliances between March 20 and May 19.