Dhaka, Jan. 29 -- Economist Rehman Sobhan has expressed doubts over whether the government is pursuing a referendum simply to appease former interim minister Mahfuj Alam and his colleagues.

On Thursday evening, Rehman criticised the lack of public awareness regarding the proposed reforms in the July National Charter.

"We have created an imaginary situation around reforms and are now trying to validate it through a referendum, which is being conducted rather opaquely," he said.

Rehman argued that asking citizens a simple "Yes" or "No" on 38 complex reform proposals, of which the general public knows little, reduces the exercise to a "meaningless proposal".

He added, "I have not heard any leader from the two main alliances -- the BNP or...