Subir Bhaumik
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s interim administration apparently plans to turn Bangladesh into an Islamist Republic. The country’s Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman has said that the word “secular” should be removed from the nation’s Constitution since “90% of the population is Muslim”.
Asaduzzaman came up with this argument during a court hearing on the legality of the 15th Amendment, which was passed during the ousted Awami League’s tenure in power and which guarantees Bangladeshis freedom to practise their religions. That amendment partly did not undo the status of Islam as state religion enforced in 1988 during the military rule of General H M Ershad, who was later ousted by a popular agitation, but it gave religious minorities freedom to practise their religion.
“Earlier, there was constant trust and faith in Allah. I want it the way it was before. It is said in Article 2A that the state shall ensure equal rights and equality in the practice of all religions. Article 9 talks about ‘Bengali nationalism’. It is contradictory,” Asaduzzaman argued during the court hearing.
Since he is the chief law officer of the interim government, his pitch in court would not be possible without green light from chief advisor Muhammed Yunus, whose liberal image abroad is clearly in contradiction to ground realities in Bangladesh since the ouster of the Awami League government.
Pogroms Against Hindus, Buddhists
Someone in Bangladesh claiming to be an “Islamic Joddha” (Islamic Fighter) forwarded a Facebook post by Islamic Chatra Shibir (student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami) that claimed killing seven Hindus in the recent violence rocking the country’s port city of Chittagong last week. The post claims, “teaching Hindus in Chittagong the lesson they deserved because they had become too bold.” It also called on all to support our ‘Muslim army’ which, it says, has got 200 Hindus arrested to be “taught the right lesson.”
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