DHAKA:  The special committee on constitutional amendment sits in an important meeting in camera Sunday, as the parliamentary panel is likely to give final touches to the draft of a rewritten constitution of the country.

Sources said Sunday’s meeting, the committee’s fourth, would discuss whether Islam as state religion and ‘Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim’ as the preamble would remain in the constitution or not.

Dealing with another major matter, the senior parliamentarians on the committee would think over whether the system of caretaker government should be done way with, as the novel arrangement of stand-in government ahead of polls tumbled into a crisis on the last occasion.

However, no member of the committee could say for sure anything regarding this agenda.

The meeting will be held in the cabinet room of the Parliament house at 11am with its chairperson and Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair.

The others 15 members of the committee, the law minister and the chairman of the law commission would attend the meeting.

Co-chairman of the committee Suranjit Sengupta wouldn’t say anything regarding the points of discussion in the meeting beforehand.

Barrister Anisul Haq, member of the committee, told banglanews that every member of the committee would express their frank opinions during the exclusive brainstorming over the matters of high national importance.

“Decision would be taken based on the opinions,” he said.

General meeting of the committee would be held on September 20 and 21 following the camera meeting.

The committee was formed on July 21, consisting of only the ruling Awami League-led grand-alliance lawmakers, as BNP declined to nominate their representative following an invitation from the ruling party.

The panel was formed for working out constitutional changes in the light of the Supreme Court verdict annulling the Fifth Amendment which had ratified the doings of martial law regimes since the August 15, 1975 coup and brought major changes in the fundamental state principles.

Later on, the Seventh Amendment was also struck down by the High Court, declaring all extra-constitutional takeovers illegal.    

BDST: 2105 HRS, SEPT 18, 2010