Until 15 January, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and NCP carried out various programmes, including leaflet distribution, demanding that the charter be declared. On 16 January, the day after the deadline, a meeting headed by the chief advisor was held with various political parties and stakeholders to finalise the declaration.
\A draft of the declaration was also shared with different parties on behalf of the government. However, no declaration was ultimately published through any government initiative.
Since the formation of the NCP on 28 February, however, party leaders have increasingly referred to proposed declaration as the “July Declaration” rather than the “Declaration of the July Revolution.”
On 8 May, a protest was launched in front of the chief advisor’s residence, Jamuna, demanding a ban on Awami League. The demonstration was called by Hasnat Abdullah, the chief organiser of NCP’s southern region. The protest later spread to Shahbagh. Leaders from various Islamic parties and organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolon, and Hefazat-e-Islam, also joined the movement.
On the second day of the movement, NCP convener Nahid Islam and other leaders of the party brought forward three demands. These were to declare Awami League a terrorist organisation and ban it, to add a clause to the International Crimes Tribunals Act in order to place Awami League on trial as a party, and to declare the July Charter.
In face of this movement, the interim government called for a special meeting on the night of 10 May and took the decision to ban Awami League activities and to finalise the July Charter within 30 working days.
Yesterday, Friday, marked 18 working days since that decision of the government. Eid-ul Azha holidays have begun from 5 June. Given the long Eid holiday and the weekly holidays, the 30 working days will end on 30 June.