The parliamentary initiative came as senior government leaders have said they supported "updating the constitution” under an amendment to restore the "spirit" of the post independence constitution of 1972.
Bangladesh is unlikely to ban religious parties or drop the Islamic verse "Bismillahir Rahmani Rahim” from the preamble of the constitution that will be reviewed by a top parliamentary panel in a bid to restore the "secular" spirit of 1971 'Liberation War'
Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina told party lawmakers that she was personally opposed to the idea of banning any political party, sources said today.
"I am not in favour of banning any political party," Hasina was quoted as saying by the private Bdnews news agency after parliament constituted a special committee to amend the constitution two days ago.
“We want to revive the spirit of Liberation War and enable people to reap the dividends of democracy," Hasina told parliament yesterday.
A senior Awami League MP told PTI that the ruling party lawmakers and the prime minister also agreed not to delete 'Bismillahir Rahmani Rahim' from the preamble of the constitution.
He said Hasina told the lawmakers that no amendment should be made to the constitution which could hurt people’s religious sentiment.
The parliamentary initiative came as senior government leaders have said they supported "updating the constitution” under an amendment to restore the "spirit" of the post independence constitution of 1972 that had stated secularism to be a crucial state principle.
Law minister Shafique Ahmed earlier told PTI that Islamic verse "Bismillahir Rahmani Rahim" is likely to remain intact in the preamble of the constitution.
"Secularism would automatically be restored in the constitution (in line with the Liberation War spirit) if the 2005 high court verdict could be upheld on the amendment,” he said. The original constitution of 1972 embodied four fundamental principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism. Socialism was dropped and secularism was replaced by Islamic republic.
Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, chairman of the 15-member special parliamentary committee and deputy leader of the House, outlined six objectives of the planned amendment to the constitution.
Several religious political parties, including the largest Jamaat-e-Islami, have threatened to take to the streets amid speculation that they could banned.
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