Islam not our state religion, says Bangladesh minister after Durga Puja violence

After the violence in the Durga Puja pavilions and various places in Bangladesh, the country's State Information Minister Murad Hassan said that Bangladesh is a secular country and it would revert to the 1972 constitution, proposed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation

Hassan said that Bangladesh cannot be a haven for religious fundamentalists, as his statement came amidst the backdrop of attacks on Durga Puja pavilions, which Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said were pre-planned and aimed at destroying communal harmony in the nation. 

Nearly 4,000 people have been booked by the police in the connection with the violence in Bangladesh in the last few days. 

"We have the blood of freedom fighters in our body. At any cost, we have to go back to the constitution of '72. I will speak in Parliament to go back to the constitution that Bangabandhu went through. Even if no one speaks, Murad will speak in Parliament," Hassan said. 

The state minister was speaking at the Engineers Institution, Bangladesh (IEB) auditorium on the occasion of the 57th birth anniversary of Sheikh Russell, who is the youngest son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

The information minister added, "I do not think that Islam is our state religion. We'll go back to the constitution of 1972. We'll get that bill enacted in parliament under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's leadership."

"We'll soon return to the 1972 secular constitution issued by Bangladesh's founding father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, following independence," he said. 

"This is a non-communal Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a secular country. Everyone will practise their faith here."