Dhaka: The government will ban all religion-based political parties in Bangladesh, a decision that will force Islamic parties here to drop Islam from their name following a court ruling, the law minister has said.
The top court upheld a 2005 ruling by the High Court throwing out the fifth amendment of the Constitution, which had allowed religion-based politics to thrive in the last three decades.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told mediapersons yesterday that since the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court verdict regarding the fifth amendment to the Constitution, religion-based political parties will be banned.
However, the top court`s ruling does not affect constitutional amendments that made Islam the nation`s state religion in 1988 and incorporated a Koranic verse in the Constitution.
The words `Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and Islam as the state religion will remain in force in the Constitution, the minister was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.
The minister said the government would implement the HC verdict as per the recommendations of the Bangladesh Law Commission.
Ahmed also said the matter will be sent to the law commission for its recommendations after January 18 when the SC is due to hear the leave-to-appeal petitions against the HC verdict.
He said the HC declared illegal the fifth amendment of the Constitution since the amendment had legitimated the rule of martial law that suspended the Constitution.
He dismissed any possibility of controversy with regard to implementation the High Court verdict.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is allied with two Islamic parties, said it would appeal the verdict, the media said.
The country`s original Constitution, drafted by the secular Awami League in the post independent period barred the use of religion in politics.
PTI
