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| Bangladesh | |
| Govt moves to dispel confusion on religion | |
| 2010-10-19 | |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would exchange views with the religion-based political parties to dispel confusion over constitution amendments. Presiding over the weekly cabinet meeting, she also said Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim in the preamble to the constitution would stay, and so would Islam as state religion.
The prime minister said she wants the Islamist parties to have a clear understanding of the government move regarding constitution amendments. However, The infamous However... Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote, components of the BNP-led four-party alliance, would not be invited to the talks, a senior minister told The Daily Star last night. At the meeting, the premier directed the cabinet members to make people understand that the government would not bring any amendment that may hurt public sentiment. "Go to people and make sure they have no confusion about constitution amendments," the minister quoted her as saying. Hasina, also president of the ruling Awami League, observed that Jamaat has been misleading people about the issue to gain political mileage. She said the decision on whether a political party would be banned rests with the Election Commission, not with the government. The prime minister asked the authorities concerned to keep the matter in mind while reprinting the charter. The constitution would be reprinted omitting the fifth amendment, which the High Court has declared illegal, she said. She noted that reprint is a continuous job, and so if any recommendation of the parliamentary committee on constitution amendments needs to be incorporated, the charter would be reprinted again. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam raised the issue. Mentioning BNP's threat to launch an anti-government movement, the prime minister directed the ministers and state ministers to remain alert so none could destabilise the government, said meeting sources. Briefing news hounds afterwards, PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said the meeting evaluated the decisions taken since AL took over in January last year, and found 88 percent of them have been executed. | |
| Posted by:Fred |