In a stark political warning that elevates electoral timing to a matter of national and regional security, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has said that failure to hold national elections by February 2025 could destabilise not just Bangladesh but the broader South Asian region. Speaking at Sunday’s high-stakes National Consensus Commission meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, convened to chart the implementation roadmap for the July 2025 National Charter, Salahuddin drew a hard line: reforms and trials are continuous processes, but elections are non-negotiable deadlines. “Reforms will continue, they must. Trials for past injustices will go on, under any government. But elections cannot be made conditional,” Salahuddin asserted. “If elections are not held in February, regional security may be threatened.” His remarks come amid growing anxiety that powerful “fascist forces,” as he termed them, are deliberately engineering uncertainty to derail the electoral calendar. “They are trying to prevent elections in the first half of February to create chaos, to buy time. If they succeed, it will threaten national life, national security and yes, regional security,” he warned, alluding to Bangladesh’s two giant neighbours. “There are two regional powers here. We do not want to drag Bangladesh into their sphere of influence. The only way to preserve our sovereignty is to hold elections on time.” Despite 15 years of state-sponsored injustice – disappearances, killings, torture under the Awami League, the BNP, Salahuddin stressed, remains committed to justice and institutional reform. Of the 826 reform proposals submitted to the Commission, the party formally opposed only 51. It offered qualified support with dissenting notes on 115 others and reached near-final consensus on 845. “We don’t want reforms that collapse in two days or become future challenges,” he said. “The agreed-upon proposals are being and will be implemented. Procedures take time. That’s acceptable.” Salahuddin, however, issued a firm red line on the legal architecture of the July Charter: it cannot supersede the Constitution, nor be shielded from judicial review. “No document can be placed above the Constitution. No citizen should be barred from challenging it in court. That is unacceptable in a democracy.” Instead, he proposed pragmatic alternatives: seeking an advisory opinion from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court under Article 106, or exploring whether a “special constitutional order” similar to the one used to establish the interim government could provide temporary legitimacy. “You, Chief Adviser, acted under a special constitutional order. We entrusted you with that authority. But if a citizen challenges it later, it could stain your global reputation, and ours.” He urged Dr Yunus to exercise the Commission’s mandate boldly: “We’ve given you our written opinions. We’ve debated extensively. Now, you have the freedom and the responsibility to choose the path forward.”