After 28 years, Bangladesh revives case to drop Islam as state religion

This case starts its journey tomorrow in the Bangladeshi high court.. It will be interesting to see if it will be allowed to proceed, as who would consider
proposing anything against Islam In Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan to name three of its headline countries..

Legal action to drop Islam as Bangladesh's state religion has been revived after 28 years, and the High Court has agreed to hear the case later this month. Bangladesh's 1971 constitution originally declared all religions were equal in the eyes of the state. However, military ruler Hussain Mohammad Ershad amended it in 1988 to make Islam the state religion. Ershad's action led a group of 12 citizens to file a writ with the High Court to overturn the amendment. But Shahriar Kabir, who convened the group, said the members soon decided not to go ahead with the case. "After filing the case, we realised that the bench would not be favourable for us, so we did not move further," Shahriar told Reuters on Monday. Then the current government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, again amended the constitution. The new amendment reinstated the principle of secularism but also reaffirmed Islam as the state religion. The court action brought by Shahriar's group essentially seeks to resolve that contradiction. The High Court will hear the case on March 27. "It will take long time to get any decision,” said Rana Dasgupta, a government prosecutor. "The nature of the case is time-consuming. The High Court will continue to hear from both parties and then will deliver its verdict." The move to reaffirm Bangladesh as a secular nation comes amid a wave of militant violence in recent months, including a series of bomb attacks against mosques and Hindu temples. Some of the attacks, including the killing of a Hindu priest, have been claimed by Islamic State. The militant group has also aid it was behind the killings of a Japanese citizen, an Italian aid worker and a policeman. The government denies that Islamic State has a presence in the Muslim-majority country of 160 million people. (Reporting By Serajul Quadir, editing by Larry King)

www.reuters.com...

However it is unclear how much widespread the support the move would have in the country, where 90% of the population is Muslim, 8% are Hindu and 2% is made up of other minority religions. In the past month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death at an attack at a temple in Bangladesh's Panchgarh district in which two Hindu followers were also injured, while in the past year several prominent religious minority bloggers have been murdered.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com... w/51275715.cms

Swapping it to what?

Seems like Bangladesh has just opened it's doors to terrorism.

RIP Bangladesh.

originally posted by: AldarKose
Swapping it to what?

Not Swapping it just removing the label of being the State religion.. ( Just Ha )

Now it is not recommended you will drop it, or Apostasy, and if you are ? keep it very quiet..


www.economist.com...


www.answering-islam.org...

a reply to: skywatcher44

Well thats like," Hey, anyone can pick and chose their own culture, we hope for tolerance in a small country with 150 million individuals and a adopt a multicultural society..

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3... Ignition ... BooOOOOoooM!

Well, very brave.

Bangladesh is one of those sad countries where religiously motivated violence and brutality is commonplace. Bangladesh is a country with one of the highest rates of child (girl) marriage, a sign of cultural backwardness if there ever was one, kept alive by religiously motivated customs and practices.

Here's a clue to the problems in Bangladesh.

The Guardian - Avijit Roy was hacked to death for his secular views

a reply to: skywatcher44

It's a shame that any one Country or any one person can throw this shroud over 150 million people and say you have to abide by the laws of 'Islam'.

Let's hope they succeed.

bdnews24.com...

The Qawmi madrasa-based organisation, which unleashed large-scale violence from its 2013 rally in Dhaka’s Motijheel, issued the warning on Friday, two days before the High Court is scheduled to start hearing the appeal. The radical outfit’s Secretary General Junaid Babu Nagari said in a rally on the premises of Andarkilla Shahi Jam-e-Masjid in Chittagong that the organisation would announce ‘tough programmes’ if Islam was not to be retained as the state religion in the Constitution.

Al Jazeera English..