Ali Riaz to lead commission on constitutional reform

The government yesterday named Professor Ali Riaz as head of the Constitutional Reform Commission, replacing Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik.

The Cabinet Division circular announcing the change did not cite any reason.

It said the circular was issued following the directive of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Prof Yunus announced the formation of six reform commissions in his address to the nation on September 11.

They were formed to reform the judiciary, the election system, the administration, the police, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the constitution. Prof Yunus also named the chiefs of the commissions.

The government issued a circular the following day, naming Malik as the chief of the Constitutional Reform Commission.

Contacted, Shahdeen Malik declined to comment.

Ali Riaz, a Bangladeshi-American, is a distinguished professor of politics and government at Illinois State University, US. He was the chair of the Department of Politics between 2007 and 2017.

He is a nonresident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council and the president of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies.

His recent publications include "How Autocrats Rise: Sequences of Democratic Backsliding" and "Pathways of Autocratization: The Tumultuous Journey of Bangladeshi Politics".