Legislation to separate religion from politics has been passed in Bangladesh. And not a moment too soon.
DHAKA (January 05 2010): Bangladesh’s dozens of Islamic political parties must drop Islam from their name and stop using religion when on the campaign trail following a court ruling, the country’s law minister said Monday. The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld an earlier ruling by the High Court from 2005 throwing out the fifth amendment of the constitution, which had allowed religion-based politics to flourish in the country since the late 1970s.
“All politics based on religion are going to be banned as per the original constitution,” Shafique Ahmed told AFP. The verdict does not affect constitutional amendments that made Islam the Muslim majority nation’s state religion in 1988 and incorporated a Quranic verse in the constitution. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is allied with two Islamic parties, said it would appeal the verdict.
Bangladesh’s original constitution, drafted by the secular Awami League party after the country became independent from Pakistan in 1971, barred the use of religion in politics. “We want to reinstate the original constitution. Secularism was a pillar of the 1972 constitution,” said Ahmed.
The move follows the Awami League’s sweep to power in 2008 elections, which saw them beat the BNP with a landslide. The new government outlawed a controversial Islamic party in October, accusing it of destabilising the country. Four other Islamist organisations, including the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were earlier banned after they carried out a series of nation-wide bombings that left 28 people dead in 2005.
18 Comments
This is excellent news.
Let us hope that the BNP’s appeal fails and that the fullest secularism may be reinstated in Bangladesh.
This is a move in the right direction.
Me too. Am looking forward to all religious based parties being banned including the Christian Democrats, BJP
tell me, wasn’t the last time this happened was when the Awami League began to ban religious parties, then all other parties leading the country turning into a one party state?
I certainly don’t have any time for some of the Bangladeshi religious parties, but this does seem a bit unworkable to me. How will it be monitored? I wouldn’t know how do do it in this country, where religion is a lot less notable in political dialogue. It also seems extreme.
Never thought I would see a day when Pakistan would envy Bangladesh.
Yeah, the more I learn about this the more I feel my joy was a little premature.
I think it is possible to have a secular constitution which rigorously sets out to keep religion out of government policy machinery.
But it is perfectly viable to have religion at political level, which would ensure, in BD’s case, the development of an inclusive Islamic democracy in the same way Christian ethics have informed Christian Democratic politics in Europe.
Forcing parties to remove the “Islamic” tag from their names is a cheesy and cosmetic move but most importantly, redundant.
LOL
And this self same hypocrite Faisal Gazi , applauding a ban on Islamic parties, claimed
“Secular Democracy protects religious freedom”
http://shitoon.webs.com/gassy.jpg
Damn straight.
It can also be argued that this is not a banning of Jamaat but constitutional muscle applied on democratic parties to comply with secular legislation. If this is good for the constitution it’s good for the people and that’s bigger than the welfare of any one particular party.
If hardliners do take over Jamaat it knows it will be a death blow to itself and undo all the good work it has done to build itself as a democratic party. Another scenario is that it will cause a schism in Jamaat between the hardliners and the pro-democrats (I won’t call them “moderates” because there is no such thing as a moderate Jamaati and the ethos of Jamaat is anti-moderate by definition).
I think this butt-cheek clenching time but I think this is a good move in the long term.
Faisal Gazi
Using the same idiotic logic you support a ban on secular parties from the Iranian elections
eh? whachootalkinbout abdullah?
Take no notice of Abdullah – he is the pinnacle of Hizbie intellectualism, don’t you know.
Funny that “keep religion out of politics” East Pakistan is still a member of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) !!!! Why? They should leave or be kicked out if they are so keen to deny their Muslim links.
But I guess the Bengali miskeen beggars and their “basket case” country (CF Henry Kissinger) depend on Arab oil money, charity and employment too much to do that. LOL.
Apparently they are changing the name of the country to “Beggardesh” LOL
gosh, you’re a charmer.
b’shalom
bananabrain
I think he has an agenda of demonstrating the effect that in-breeding has on intelligence.
He’s definitely from the MCB.
On reading Marwan, now I think understand better why some animals devour their own young.
All hail his Royal Excellency, Marwan the Ambassador of the Caliphate of Bradford and Grand Wazir of the MCB.