Since then Bangladesh has seen the emergence of more than two dozen Islamist parties, some demanding the establishment of Islamic Shariah law in the predominantly Muslim country governed by liberal secular laws.
Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source & Credit: Canadian Press
By Farid Hossain (CP) | July 30, 2010
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Islamist parties in Bangladesh face a ban from politics after the Supreme Court ruled religion-based organizations cannot participate in political life, the law minister said Thursday.
Bangladesh banned religion-based politics after it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, but an amendment to the country's constitution in 1979 allowed Islamic parties to operate again.
Since then Bangladesh has seen the emergence of more than two dozen Islamist parties, some demanding the establishment of Islamic Shariah law in the predominantly Muslim country governed by liberal secular laws.
In a ruling released Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down the 1979 amendment saying it contradicted secularism, one of Bangladesh's four founding pillars.
"The ruling has paved the way for banning the political parties, which use religion as their main ideal and propagate it," Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said Thursday. "The issue will now be discussed in the Parliament."
Nearly 88 per cent of Bangladesh's 150 million people are Muslims.
One Islamic party expressed anger over a possible ban.
"We shall not allow any move to ban Islam-based politics in our Muslim nation," said Fazlul Haq Amini, head of Islamic Oikya Jote, an alliance of some smaller Islamic parties. "We can't separate Islam from politics."
The largest Islamist party is Jamaat-e-Islami. Like other Islamic groups, Jamaat seeks to establish Shariah in Bangladesh, but shuns militancy.
Jamaat is an ally of Bangladesh's main opposition group, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
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