{"id":4330,"date":"2016-03-28T18:13:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T18:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=4327&preview_id=4327"},"modified":"2016-03-28T18:13:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T18:13:49","slug":"keeping-islam-as-state-religion-in-bangladesh-triggers-mixed-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=4330","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Islam as State Religion in Bangladesh Triggers Mixed Reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

KOLKATA\u2014<\/span>The rejection Monday by Bangladesh\u2019s High Court of a 28-year-old petition in which some secular activists sought to scrap Islam as the state religion of the country has sparked mixed reactions in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation.<\/p>\n

A three-judge panel threw out the petition as soon as the case opened, saying that, having never been registered with the authorities, the secular group has no right to file any such petition to the court.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the minority communities expressed disappointment after the court refused to hear the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sad that the court binned the petition without allowing the petitioners to present their arguments. This ruling will give a boost to the country\u2019s Islamist forces and it is a sad day for all religious minorities in Bangladesh,\u201d Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Bangladesh\u00a0Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, told VOA.<\/p>\n

However, Islamist groups, which recently staged demonstrations and threatened a nationwide protest if Islam was dropped as the country\u2019s state religion, say that they are happy with Monday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the Islamist group Hefajat-e-Islam (Hel) said that the latest ruling will help curb the spread of anti-Islam ideologies in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost Muslims in Bangladesh want Islam to remain the country\u2019s state religion. If the High Court decided to scrap Islam as the state religion, Muslims across the whole country would have erupted in rage,\u201d Maulana Anwar Hossain Rabbani, an HeI leader from Chittagong, said to VOA.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Two<\/a><\/div>\n

Two Bangladeshi Muslim women walk past a Hindu woman selling flowers by a roadside in Dhaka, Bangladesh, March 28, 2016. Hindus, along with Buddhists, represent the main minority groups in the majority Muslim country.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Islam Made State Religion<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, it was declared a secular country.<\/p>\n

In 1988, military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad declared Islam the state religion in attempt to seek mass support during a campaign by major political parties to oust him from power.<\/p>\n

Soon afterwards, a group of 15 secular activists filed a petition arguing that recognition of Islam as the state religion conflicts with Bangladesh\u2019s secular charter and discriminates against religious minorities.<\/p>\n

Although Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina re-introduced secularism as the political standard in the country in 2011, she let Islam remain the state religion.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, thousands of HeI activists took to the streets in Dhaka protesting against the High Court\u2019s move to hear the petition. Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), the largest Islamist party of the country, called for a day-long strike on Monday demanding rejection of the petition.<\/p>\n

After Monday\u2019s ruling came through, HeI and JeI leaders said the court was aware of the Muslim sentiment and so it chose to reject the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety percent of the population of the country is Muslim. We knew that the government would not take the risk to scrap Islam as the state religion. We have been proved right,\u201d Noor Hossain Qashmi, a Dhaka-based HeI leader, said to VOA.<\/p>\n

He added that Monday\u2019s ruling in no way poses any threat to non-Muslims in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIslam preaches Muslims to treat their non-Muslim neighbors well. The religious minorities in Bangladesh have not faced any discrimination in Bangladesh in the past decades while Islam has remained the state religion. They have nothing new to fear about now,\u201d Qashmi said.<\/p>\n

Ruling to Boost Islamists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Bangladesh\u2019s state religion has been Islam, the constitution guarantees the practice of other religions in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n

However, in recent times, Bangladesh has seen a series of attacks against religious minorities, atheist bloggers and foreigners. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for most of those attacks. However, the government says domestic Islamist groups backed by the opposition parties are responsible for the attacks.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s ruling disappointed many religious minority leaders who believe it could encourage more Islamist attacks against minorities in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn their letters, the Islamists said to our church leaders that Bangladesh would be ruled by Sharia law. As they threatened to kill our leaders, in some cases they also said that only Muslims would live in Bangladesh,\u201d William Proloy Samadder, organizing secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association, said to VOA.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday\u2019s ruling has surely come as a shot in the arm for many of those Islamists. It is indeed frightening for all religious minorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Keeping Islam as State Religion in Bangladesh Triggers Mixed Reactions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KOLKATA\u2014The rejection Monday by Bangladesh\u2019s High Court of a 28-year-old petition in which some secular activists sought to scrap Islam as the state religion of the country has sparked mixed reactions in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation. A three-judge panel threw out the petition as soon as the case opened, saying that, having never been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}