July charter signed, "It is a great day." Chief Adviser

In a display of political unity, 24 political parties signed the much-anticipated the July National Charter yesterday. However, five political parties including the NCP, formed by student leaders who spearheaded last year's July mass uprising sat out the July charter ceremony.

The signing took place on Friday a rainy autumn afternoon at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. The ceremony was marked by protests from a group calling itself July Warriors, who demanded formal recognition in the July charter.

Parties long split along ideological lines shared a single stage in what organisers hailed as a watershed in the country's political history. "It is a great day. It gives me goosebumps ... ," said Muhammad Yunus, moments after the signing.

"Today is the day of a new birth and we have introduced a 'New Bangladesh' through the signing." chief adviser also said the political consensus on complex national issues achieved by Bangladesh could become an example worldwide.

The ceremony began at 4:37pm with the national anthem. Earlier, all the guests arrived amid a light drizzle to a welcome by school and college students in traditional red-and-green attire, beating drums.

At 5:05pm, two representatives from each political party signed the charter alongside Commission Vice-President Prof Ali Riaz and other members. Yunus signed it two minutes later. The signatories then raised the signed document in a symbolic gesture to applause from several hundred guests many of whom struggled to find dry seating in the open-air event.