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’All govts have used religion to cling to power'

Star Report
Rulers, before and after the Sjbcrrrtton. In this country have used and abused religion to prolong their stay in power taking advantage of the popular Ignorance about the relationship between the State and the Religion.
This was the key note of the Martyred Intellectuals Commemorative Lecture titled Dhar-niarashtra, Dharmanlrapeksha-ta O Rashtradharma (theocratic state, secularism and state religion) delivered by Prof Anisuzzaman yesterday. The Department of History hosted the annual event to pay homa-
ge to three of its teachers murdered tn 1971 by the collaborators of the Pakistan army.
Prof Anisuzzaman gave a resume of why and how religion sneaked into the political agenda of the power-mongers since before the creation of Pakistan and how it affected the socio-political fabric of a people reeling under the onslaught of economic backwardness.
In fine, the Professor pleaded for a turn-back to secularism just the way "we went back to parliamentary demo-
the elimination of secularism as one of the fundamentals nor the incorporation of state religion into the Constitution was made to meet popular demand. The rulers wished it and had it done," he reminded
Invoking the April 10. 1971 Paper on Independence that called Bangladesh a sovereign people's republic. Anisuzzaman said that the leaders of the Liberation War repeatedly spoke of a secular state. The leaders included, he said, not only Prime Minister Tajuddln Ahmed and Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam or Home Minister AHM Kamruzzaman, but also men like Khondoker Mustaque Ahmed, the then Foreign Minister.
The pledge was reiterated by Sheikh Mujlbur Rahman tn his speech at the Race Course oh the day he returned from captivity tn Pakistan, he reminded.
But from 1972 onwards, there had been a tendency to give equal political recognition ton all religion, which, Anisuzzaman claimed, was' contrary to the Article 12 of the Constitution, and also to the values that secularism stands for.
"We went all for proving that sccularism/dharmaqtrape-kshata did not mean being in a state of not having any religion. And that’s why milads were arranged in the Bangabhaban or the Ganobhaban". '
Then we saw recitations from the Quran, the Geeta, the Bible, the Tripitaka in the state-run radio and the television."
This was in no way secularism," Anisuzzaman argued," this can be called equal treatment to all religion".
All this, he said, was done to pacify critics who said atheism was being followed.
Good times came for the critics tn 1975. "Freedom fighter Ziaur Rahman gave the anti-Liberation elements a share in the pie of power” and did away with the Article 12 that barred religion-based politics.
The 1988 amendment, under the patronage of General Erahad. that made Islam the state religion made things worse and virtually violated the guaranteed to all the cit-
"Seculartsm was done away with brandishing the martial law — people did not really
react. However, when the state religion came, people protested, but did not go too far, " Anisuzzaman said.
The Awami Ix-ague and Its allies, the Five-Party combine, the women activists, most cultural and professional bodies took to the streets, but the BNP kept silent, a reminder that the removal of secularism from the Constitution was its act. Anisuzzaman said.
Then , he went on to point accusing fingers at the Awami League, the party he gave credit for making secularism a state principle but criticised for failing to practise it property, for reacting to the propaganda that hismillah would be the casualty If the party was voted to power.'
"Half the OIC states do not have anything called state religion. Even countries like Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates or Syria do not entertain the idea of a state reU-Cn. Turkey is not only a sccu-
state, the few articles of its constitution can never be amended include that of secularism. "Anisuzzaman argued.
The trials and tribulations this nation have gone through over the-years in the name of' religion and the history its people belonging to all religion have written In the process of materialising the dream of an independent Bangladesh provide the rationale for adoption of a secular ideology. Anisuzzaman who teaches at the Bengali Department of Dhaka University said.