Professor Ali Riaz, special assistant to the chief adviser and chief coordinator of the referendum campaign, has said there is no legal restriction preventing government officials from campaigning in favour of a “Yes” vote in the upcoming referendum.
He made the remarks on Saturday while speaking as the chief guest at a divisional views-exchange meeting in Sylhet, organised to promote the referendum and encourage voter participation.
Ali Riaz said those who lost their lives during the July mass uprising had sacrificed themselves to establish people’s rights and described the referendum as a significant step towards realising those aspirations.
He said there was no provision in the Constitution, the Representation of the People Order, the July National Charter Implementation Order 2025, or the referendum-related ordinance that barred employees of the republic from campaigning in support of positive change.
He said no one had been able to produce any legal reference showing such a restriction, adding that claims of a legal bar were being made with ulterior motives to create confusion.
Addressing questions about the moral appropriateness of government officials campaigning in favour of the referendum, Ali Riaz challenged critics by asking what morality denied the sacrifice of young people who had lost their lives in the struggle for rights.
The meeting was organised by the Sylhet Divisional Administration at the Sylhet Divisional Sports Complex and was attended by government officials from divisional, district and upazila levels, as well as representatives of various non-governmental organisations.
Ali Riaz rejected the view that the current interim administration should be regarded as a caretaker government, saying it derived its legitimacy from the July uprising. He said the interim government was working on three mandates: reform, justice and elections.
He said elections are conducted by the Election Commission, not by the government, while the role of the administration is to create a conducive environment. Similarly, justice is delivered by the courts, with the government ensuring that judicial processes can proceed without obstruction. He said state reform was therefore the government’s core responsibility.
Responding to claims that such referendums were unprecedented, Ali Riaz said that between 1972 and 2024, at least 48 referendums had been held globally, and in most cases, governments actively campaigned for a “Yes” vote. He said this practice was internationally accepted, morally justified and legally permissible.
He also dismissed the suggestion that ordinary citizens would not be able to understand the issues involved in the referendum, saying such views underestimated the people. He said those who had led the Liberation War of 1971, the mass uprising of 1969 and the uprising of 2024 were fully capable of understanding matters related to their rights.
Ali Riaz said people who endured repression, imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings under previous authoritarian rule had entrusted the current administration with the responsibility of ensuring an accountable system of governance.
He highlighted what he described as the excessive concentration of power under the existing system, recalling that a constitutional amendment committee in 2011 had initially recommended retaining the caretaker government system with modifications. He said the system was later abolished following a single meeting with the then prime minister, based solely on the will of one individual.
He said although the Constitution assigns appointment powers to the president for bodies such as the Election Commission, Public Service Commission and the judiciary, in practice these decisions had been made according to the wishes of the prime minister. He said the July Charter and the referendum were intended to prevent such concentration of authority.
Chief adviser’s special assistant Monir Haidar said that while the return of the previous ruler was unlikely, the return of authoritarianism remained possible if safeguards were not put in place. He said many families had lost children during the 2024 mass uprising and warned that future generations could face similar losses if systemic change was not achieved.
He said the referendum aimed to break that cycle and prevent the return of authoritarian rule, adding that it sought to fulfil the fundamental aspirations that emerged from the Liberation War of 1971.
The meeting was chaired by Sylhet Divisional Commissioner Khan Md Reza-Un-Nabi. Religious affairs secretary Md Kamal Uddin, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology vice-chancellor Professor Dr A M Sarwaruddin Chowdhury, senior government officials, religious leaders, civil society members, business representatives and NGO leaders were also present.
