B’desh SC bans religious parties, upholds secularism – `Carrying out activities based on religion is punishable’

DHAKA: Islamist parties in Bangladesh face a ban from politics after the controversial 1979 Fifth Amendment was struck down by the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling that also paved the way for ensuring secularism as the “cornerstone” of the country’s constitution.
Following the Appellate Division’s decision upholding the High Court’s landmark verdict that declared the Constitution’s 1979 Fifth Amendment illegal, restrictions on formation of organisations based on religion were restored.

“Carrying out activities of any political party based on religion is now punishable offence under the Special Powers Act,” Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said.”Their activities are now punishable offence,” he said. Political parties and other organisations using religion as their guidelines now stand banned with cancellation of the Fifth Amendment to the con stitution, he said.

The Supreme Court ruling sets the stage to ban religious parities like the country’s largest Islamist party like Jamaat-e-Islami. The Law Minister said the Supreme Court ruling has paved the way for ensuring secular, multiparty democracy, reports PTI.

“By a historical judgement of our Supreme Court, secularism has been restored, paving the way for the state to ensure secular multiparty democracy to move forward with its agenda of development,” Ahmed said. “Secularism will again be the cornerstone of our constitution,” Ahmed said.

The 1979 Fifth Amendment was aimed to provide constitutional legitimacy to the governments in power — military or otherwise — following the 1975 assassination of the founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In April 1979 the legislature ratified the Fifth Amendment, which provided that all amendments, additions, modifications made between August 15, 1975 and April 9, 1979 were valid and would not be called in question before any judicial body.

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According to PTI, “The court put on record its “total disapproval of martial law” and suggested “suitable punishment” to perpetrators as it issued the full text of a key judgement that made the 1979 Fifth Amendment legalising military takeover unconstitutional. The court scrapped the bulk of the 1979 Fifth Amendment, including provisions that had allowed religious political parties to flourish.”
Source: IE

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Neeraj Nanda

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