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| Constitution of Bangladesh Govt. |
Finance Minister AMA Muhith and planning minister AK Khandaker have requested the cabinet members not to include “Islam” as state religion of the republic. “As it would be in conflict with the Constitution of 1972 ensuring the state should be secular with equal rights to all citizens practising other religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity,” they added. Commenting on the ministers’ argument on the matter.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “The report has been prepared in this regard on the basis of reality as there have been many changes in the past 40 years. It requires no further changes.” On June 8 , the 15- member special sub- committee on constitutional amendment, which was formed on July 21 , 2010 , placed its final report with 51 recommendations before Parliament ( Jatiya Sangsad) including that for abolition of the caretaker government system. The report allowed retention of Islam as state religion and “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim” in the Constitution.
The report recommended insertion of a new Article 7 A that says any unconstitutional seizure of state power should be considered treason and persons involved should be tried on sedition charges.
The committee also recommended that Articles 58( a), 58 ( b), 58 ( c) 58 ( d) and 58 ( e) and 147 be deleted from the Constitution as these are related to the formation of caretaker government. The report suggested replacing Article 123(3) , which says that a general election could be held within 90 days after the dissolution of Parliament, whether by expiration of its term or otherwise.
However, the report also suggests that if dissolution of Parliament happens for reasons other than expiry of its tenure, election could be held within 90 days after the dissolution.
The committee has proposed to limit the tenure of the state of emergency to 120 days by amending Article 141. The special committee also recommended insertion of a new Article 7( B), which would help secure the basic framework of the Constitution, so that the preamble, all articles in Parts I, II, and III and Article 150 of Part IV could not be deleted. The panel suggested that the number of seats reserved for women in Parliament be increased from 45 to 50. According to the recommendations, war criminals cannot be eligible to contest in national elections.
The committee also suggested that the power to impeach Supreme Court judges be vested in the Supreme Judicial Council. The committee recommendations include incorporation of the March 7 , 1971 speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his March 26 , 1971 proclamation of Independence in the Constitution.
The committee also suggested replacing Article 70 with the original one in the 1972 Constitution. A recommendation said that Article 2( a) of the Constitution should be amended by keeping Islam as state religion and there should be provisions for ensuring rights for all religions. The provision for hanging the photographs of the President and the Prime Minister in government offices was replaced with the one that makes it compulsory to display photographs of the Father of the Nation in government offices. According to the recommendations, the Constitution should ensure equal rights to all ethnic minorities. Besides, the committee has recommended inclusion of women empowerment and protection of bio- diversity and environment in the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Cabinet also approved the draft Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2011 and accession to the UN convention against trans-national organised crime (Palermo Convention). It also ratified the rules of origin of the “Trade Preferential System" among the Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
