Texan Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 Quote DHAKA, Bangladesh — It took Bangladesh’s High Court less than two minutes on Monday to dismiss a petition aiming to remove the designation of Islam as the country’s state religion, a challenge that had wended its way through the court system for 28 years. The effort had struck a nerve among Bangladeshis, whose tug of war over secularism and Islam dates to the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. The country’s largest Islamic political party had declared a nationwide strike on Monday, and Sunni Muslim groups had staged protests demanding that the hearing be called off. They need not have worried. A swarm of lawyers had barely taken their seats when Justice Naima Haider ruled that the group of 15 petitioners, 10 of whom had died as the case navigated the court bureaucracy, had no standing to raise the issue with the court. .... .... Read full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/asia/bangladesh-court-islam-state-religion.html?_r=0 So much for Bangladesh being a secular country!
Texan Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 In 1971, we fought and won a war against Pakistan to create two Pakistans. sandeep 1
Mariyam Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 I genuinely do not understand what is your exact grouse in this case. So what if the judge pronounced a decision in 2 minutes of getting into the court room? In India/Bangladesh and even Pakistan, we have a lot of pending cases. If we can expedite existing cases and bring closure quickly, we will be in a better position to give any semblance of timely justice to the disgruntled masses. And the judge would have pondered over the case, gone through the necessary documentation and done his fair share of work before entering the court room. Would you have considered this a valid judgement if the same verdict was passed an hour after he entered the court? Two hours?
Texan Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 2 hours ago, Mariyam said: I genuinely do not understand what is your exact grouse in this case. So what if the judge pronounced a decision in 2 minutes of getting into the court room? In India/Bangladesh and even Pakistan, we have a lot of pending cases. If we can expedite existing cases and bring closure quickly, we will be in a better position to give any semblance of timely justice to the disgruntled masses. And the judge would have pondered over the case, gone through the necessary documentation and done his fair share of work before entering the court room. Would you have considered this a valid judgement if the same verdict was passed an hour after he entered the court? Two hours? Any just court would at the very least give both sides an opportunity to present their arguments. Even that was not provided. We even allowed Kasab to make his arguments and even arranged for legal counsel for him. If it needed only two minutes to arrive at such a decision and no arguments needed to be heard, why wait 28 years? And lets not forget that the decision to impose a state religion was taken by an unconstitutionally self appointed dictator, not even a constitutionally elected government. This decision just reinforces that just like most other Muslim majority country, there is no place for minorities in Bangladesh. So, much for trying to create a secular State.
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