Faizel Patel, 2016-03-28
The high court in Bangladesh has rejected a petition by secular activists to scrap Islam as the state religion.
A special bench of three judges today three out the petition within moments of opening the case and without allowing any testimony.
The petition, which was first launched 28 years ago, has triggered countrywide protests in the impoverished nation.
Subrata Chowdhury, who represents the secular activists, says they are saddened by the ruling.
“It’s a sad day for the minorities of Bangladesh. The court did not allow the petitioners to state their case or present any arguments, he said. “The judges simply said the rule is discharged.”
Bangladesh was declared officially secular after the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, which created the nation from what was previously East Pakistan.
The country’s largest party, Jamaat-e-Islami, responded to the court’s decision by withdrawing a call for a nationwide strike.
It described the decision as a “victory of 160 million people”.
“The people will never accept any government move to remove Islam as the state religion from the constitution in an effort to please a handful of anti- More than 90 percent of Bangladesh’s population is Muslim, with Hindus and Buddhists the main minorities.”
The court’s decision to throw it out threatens to heighten tensions between secularists and hardliners in the conservative nation, which has recently seen a spate of killings of atheist bloggers, religious minorities and foreigners.
– AFP
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