DHAKA: Religious
groups in Bangladesh on Thursday endangered large-scale protests if a court
moves to exclude Islam as the official state religion of the Muslim-majority
country.
Bangladesh
is officially secular, but Islam has been the state religion for almost three
decades. More than 90 percent of the residents are Muslims, with Hindus and
Buddhists the main minorities.
The
High Court is considering a petition by secularists who say Islam’s status as
the state religion clashes with Bangladesh’s secular commission and differentiates
against non-Muslims.
“Any
change to exclude Islam’s status will weaken and denigrate the religion,” Mufti
Mohammad Faezullah, secretary general of Islamist political party Islamic Oikya
Jote (IOJ) said.
“Obviously
the Islamic parties, general people and the clerics will resist the move by
holding protests,” he added.
The
court’s change threatens to worsen tensions between secularists and religious groups
in the conservative nation, which has recently seen a flood of killings of
atheist bloggers, religious minorities and foreigners.
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