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Constitutional change a must to establish secularism

Dy speaker tells seminar

Staff Correspondent
Deputy Speaker Co) (retd) Shawkat Ali at a seminar yesterday said recognition of a specific religion as state religion' means undermining the other religions existing in Bangladesh.
"Constitution is a document where changes can be brought in. And a change should be made in this regard, especially changes made after 1975 should be reviewed,” he said.
Shawkat said this at the national seminar on 'Social harmony and rights: Banshkhali tragedy' organised by Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP) in association with Manusher Jonno Foundation at the National Press Club in the city.
The deputy speaker called on the political leaders not to bring religion in the affairs of the state and politics.
Speakers at the seminar said the first erosion of communal harmony in the subcontinent occurred in 1947 when two states were created exclusively based on religions. It created division among the
people.
Constitutional amendments made after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, especially when secularism was replaced with "Faith and absolute trust in the almighty Allah", discriminate the believers of other religions.
In November 2003, the arson attack at Banshkhali in Chittagong, which killed 11 members of a Hindu family, was the result of corrosion of communal harmony.
Bimal Shil, the only survivor of the arson attach at the programme demanded punishment to the killers of his family, saying that he is yet to get justice even after so many years.
The main perpetrator of the attack is still at large, he added.
Bimal stressed the need for an administration free from political influence to ensure equal rights of people of different religious faiths.
Manik Lal Somaddar, special assistant to the chief adviser of the immediate past caretaker government, said Bangladesh should revive the constitution of 1972. However,
some of the discrepancies which were present in it should berevised.
Shyamol Dutta, editor of the daily Bhorer Kagoj, presented a keynote speech at the seminar with former adviser to a caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan in the chair.
Replying to a question about the comment of BNP Secretary General Khandakar Delwar Hossain on joining the next parliament session, Shawkat urged the opposition party to joint the parliament.
The deputy speaker said a congenial atmosphere has been prevailing in the House at present.
He hoped that the problem over the seating arrangement in the parliament could be resolved through discussions if the opposition joins it.
Monoranjan Shil Gopal MP; DORP Secretary General AHM Nouman, Adviser Md Azhar Ali Talukder, local government expert Tofael Ahmed, Bangladesh Krishi Bank Chairman Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled and Prof HSK Arefin and Associate Prof Robayet Ferdous of Dhaka University also spoke.