ISSN:
0732-9113
Language:
English
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of legal pluralism and unofficial law
Publ. der Quelle:
Abingdon : Routledge
Angaben zur Quelle:
Vol. 49, No. 2 (2017), p. 204
DDC:
340
Abstract:
The original 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh incorporated a provision for secularism. The 1979 Fifth Amendment deleted the principle of secularism and incorporated Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful). The 1988 Eighth Amendment declared Islam to be the official state religion. The High Court Division (HCD) of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh declared the removal of secularism from the Constitution illegal in 2005. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld the decision of the HCD and the Constitution was amended in 2011 by the Parliament so that the provision for secularism was restored. The Constitution still lists the state religion as Islam and retains the declaration Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim, but these inclusions have been deeply controversial. This article will examine the concept of secularism as it is understood in Bangladesh and the implications of the concept of secularism for the constitutionality of Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim and the state religion Islam provisions. The article argues that there is no contradiction between the concept of secularism and these inclusions in the Constitution because they operate merely as an acknowledgement of Bangladesh's status as a Muslim majority country and do not, in practice, undermine the constitutional guarantees of equal rights and protection of all citizens including religious minorities.
Note:
Copyright: © 2017 The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2017
DOI:
10.1080/07329113.2017.1341479
URL:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07329113.2017.1341479
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