Dhaka, March 28 (IANS) A court in Bangladesh on Monday rejected a petition which challenged a constitutional amendment that gave Islam the status of the state religion.
The Bangladesh High Court in a hearing on Monday dismissed the plea, bdnews24.com reported.
Qawmi madrssa-based organisation Hifazat-e Islam threatened to bring Bangladesh to its knees if the Bangladesh High Court repealed Islam as the state religion while the Jamaat-e-Islami called a nationwide shutdown for Monday.
During military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad's regime, the constitution's Eighth Amendment was passed by parliament on June 5, 1988.
It paved the way to insert Article 2A in the constitution, which gave Islam the status of the state religion.
A petition was filed the same year challenging the legality of the amendment since Bangladesh as a nation emerged in 1971 on the ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism.
On Monday, the larger high court bench held a hearing over the amendment before scrapping the plea and disposing of the matter.
