Bangladesh AG wants ‘secularism’ removed from Constitution
Bangladesh's top legal official has proposed to remove the words "secularism" and "socialism" from the Constitution apart from a provision prescribing capital punishment for regime change through extra-constitutional means.
In his statement in the High Court during a hearing on a writ petition filed by a group of citizens, Attorney General Mohammad Asazzaman on Wednesday sought to remove "secularism" and "socialism" as two of the four principles of the Constitution alongside the designation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of the Nation.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the undisputed leader of Bangladesh but the Awami League politicised him in the party's interest, he said, referring to the founding leader of Bangladesh who is popularly known as Bangabandhu.
The writ petition challenged the validity of the Constitution's 15th amendment made by the now-ousted Awami League regime of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2011 while a two-judge High Court bench issued a rule asking the interim government to come up with its stance on the matter. "As a whole, we do not want that (HC) rule to be scrapped,” the attorney general said, clarifying the government's stance on the writ petition.
