Dhaka, Dec 01: A leading Islamist party, which is part of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), says it wants to establish an Islamic state. "We aim at seeing Bangladesh as an Islamic state and it will be done through the democratic and constitutional process," Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, said.

The Jamaat, which led anti-US demonstrations when the hardline Taliban regime was being ousted from Afghanistan last year, holds the agriculture and social welfare portfolios.
The coalition swept former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League from power in a general election in October last year.
Islam is already the state religion of Bangladesh, home to 130 million people, including 113 million Muslims, but the country has secular laws. It is the world's third largest Muslim-majority country after Indonesia and Pakistan. Bureau Report