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| Bangladesh Supreme Court building, where the High Court is housed, in Dhaka |
Photo courtesy: AFP
Bangladesh High Court on March 28, 2016, rejected a
writ petition that was submitted for removing Islam as the state religion in
the 90%-Muslim-majority country. It means that Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh will continue.
A 15-member secularist activist group – having lawyers,
university professors, writers and journalists – had filed the petition in 1988
challenging the status of Islam as the state religion in the country, which in
December of 1971 had emerged as an independent but secular country from
Islam-oriented Pakistan. They argued that the state religion conflicted with
the Bangladesh’s secular character and discriminated against religious
minorities.
Only in June, 2011 did the court take up the case when the
petitioners filled a supplementary plea challenging the status. The court then
asked the government why the special status of Islam should not be scrapped.
But the decision was further adjourned and the verdict was given on March 28
this year. In the same year of 2011, Sheikh Hasina’s government amended the
country’s constitution and added “secularism” in it but retained Islam as the
state religion.
It is to be noted that military ruler President
Ziaur Rahman came to power in the mid-1970s. To appease Muslim countries like
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and some others, he allowed important leaders of the
banned Jamaat-i-Islam party to return to
the country from Pakistan and participate in politics. In 1977, with an
amendment, he erased secularism from the country’s constitution. Another
military ruler and President, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, made Islam as the state
religion bringing a constitutional amendment.
In 1988, when the Ershad government was preparing to
make Islam as the state religion, religious minorities, including Christians,
were apprehensive of the outcomes and repercussions on them because of their
second-class status after enjoying equal status with the Muslims since the 1971
independence.
At the latest verdict of March 28, the religious minorities feel
let down in the face of increasing deadly attacks on them (Protestant pastor Rev. Luke Sarker in Pabna District, Italian Catholic priestFather Piero Parolari in Dinajpur Town, and Hindu priest Jogeswar Roy in Panchagarh District) in the recent past.
‘Secularism’ (which means religious freedom for all religions and no state interference in
any one) and ‘Islam as the state religion’ (which means the direct intervention of the state regarding Islam) are two opposites
that dilute the consistency in the Constitution of Bangladesh.
To learn more on the writ-petition and background
information on the state religion, please read the following:
- Writ challenging Islam as state religion rejected (The Daily Star, Dhaka: March 28, 2016)
- Bangladesh court upholds Islam as religion of the state (aljazeera.com: March 28, 2016)
- In 2 minutes, Dhaka court rejects 1988 petition to drop Islam as state religion (atimes.com: March 28, 2016)
- Keeping Islam as State Religion in Bangladesh Triggers Mixed Reactions (voanews.com: March 28, 2016)
- Bangladesh court rejects scrapping Islam as state religion (ucanews.com: March 29, 2016)
(To be updated)
