I/II. http://jurist.org/paperchase/2010/07/bangladesh-high-court-outlaws-religious-parties.php
<http://jurist.org/paperchase/2010/07/bangladesh-high-court-outlaws-religious-parties.php> *Thursday, July 29, 2010* *Bangladesh high court [read "supreme court"] outlaws religious parties* Dwyer Arce [JURIST] The Bangladeshi Supreme Court<http://www.supremecourt.gov.bd/index.php> [official website] on Wednesday overturned a constitutional amendment<http://www.supremecourt.gov.bd/judgement/C.P.%20Nos.%201044%20&%201045%20of%202009%20(5th%20Amendment).pdf> [judgment, PDF] that had allowed religious parties to participate in politics. The court, upholding a lower court decision, held that the Fifth Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution <http://www.pmo.gov.bd/pmolib/constitution/> [text], which allowed the participation of religious political parties and legitimized military rule, violated the principle of secularism and representative democracy found in the Constitution's preamble. Relying heavily on the USSupreme Court <http://www.supremecourtus.gov/> [official website; JURIST news archive<http://jurist.org/currentawareness/ussupremes.php>] decision of Marbury v. Madison<http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0005_0137_ZO.html>[text] to reinforce the notion of judicial review, the court found that the supremacy of the Constitution over the actions of government officials required them to strike down the amendment for violating the constitutional principles that the "heroic [Bangladeshi] people ... sacrifice[d] their lives [for]." The court explained: [T]he second paragraph of the Preamble of the original Constitution ... spells out the high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism which was also reflected in Article 8 of the Constitution. [O]ur liberation war was fought on those high ideals and those high ideals inspired our heroic people to dedicate themselves and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the national liberation struggle and those ideals being the basis of our nationhood shall be the fundamental principles of the Constitution. ... [T]hose fundamental principles shall remain permanently as the guiding principles and as the ever lasting light house for our Republic. The court also found that the military rule from 1975-1990 was illegal, recommending the prosecution of the leaders of the former military government. Following the decision, Bangladeshi Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed<http://www.minlaw.gov.bd/hministeroffice.htm>[official profile] stated that future challenges to constitutional amendments that establish Islam as the state religion and incorporate Qur'anic<http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/quran/index.htm> [text] verses would likely be successful as well<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h_5T_bgbToWaGqK2gxXACMFuySog> [AFP report]. The Fifth Amendment was passed in 1979 by the military government. Since this time, religious parties have grown in Bangladesh, numbering at more than two dozen before the court's decision. In 2008, the party of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7803549.stm> won in a landslide over the party of former prime minister Khaleda Zia<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6975798.stm>[BBC profiles], which was backed by several Islamist parties. Zia was also backed by the largest Islamist party, Jamaat e Islami<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/ji.htm> (JI) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. Bangladesh's International Criminal Tribunal (ICT)issued four arrest warrants<http://jurist.org/paperchase/2010/07/bangladesh-war-crimes-tribunal-issues-arrest-warrants-for-islamist-leaders.php> [JURIST report] for several of JI's leaders for genocide, murder and torture, allegedly committed during 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-pak_1971.htm> [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. The ICT wasestablished in March<http://jurist.org/paperchase/2010/03/bangladesh-establishes-tribunal-for.php> [JURIST report] to try those accused of committing war crimes during the 1971 war, in which Bangladeshi forces succeeded in gaining independence from Pakistan. II. http://gurumia.com/tag/constitutional-amendment/ Bangladesh court bans religion in politics.<http://gurumia.com/2010/07/29/bangladesh-court-bans-religion-in-politics/>Thursday, July 29th, 2010 Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has reinstated a ban on Islamic political parties after striking down a key constitutional amendment, law minister Shafiq Ahmed told media on Thursday. In a detailed verdict released late Wednesday, the Supreme Court scrapped the bulk of the 1979 fifth amendment, including provisions that had allowed religious political parties to flourish and legalised military rule. “Secularism will again be the cornerstone of our constitution,” Ahmed said. After independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh’s first constitution made secularism a key pillar. Following a 1975 coup, the army-led government amended the constitution’s guiding principle to “faith in Allah” in 1979. Religious parties, which were banned in the original 1971 constitution but legalised by the 1979 amendments, are now banned again as the “faith in Allah” provision has been thrown out, said Ahmed. “Islamic parties cannot use religion in politics any more,” he said. In 1988, a second military-led government made Islam the state religion in the Muslim-majority nation and incorporated Koranic verse into the constitution. Neither of those changes are affected by the court verdict. “But following the scrapping of the fifth amendment, these later amendments can now be challenged in court,” Ahmed said. In the verdict, the Supreme Court declared the 1975-1990 military rule illegal, and recommended punishing military dictators, Ahmed said. Since the Awami League’s landslide election win over the Islamist-allied Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 2008, the government has cracked down on Islamic groups and political parties. The new government outlawed one Islamic party in October last year, accusing it of destabilising the country. Four other Islamist organisations, including the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, were earlier banned after they carried out a series of nationwide bombings that left 28 people dead in 2005. This week, the four leaders of the country’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, were arrested by the country’s fledgling war crimes court, set up to try those responsible for atrocities during the 1971 independence war. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
