Secularism is contrary to the spirit of Liberation War
By Anwar Hossain Manju
Returning to the 1972 constitution or initiative to reestablishment of the basic principles of the original constitution is against the spirit of the liberation of war as well as contrary to the commitments made by Awami League on different occasions.
According to the constitutional experts, there is no term like 'original constitution'. The constitution is a set of rule to run the affairs of the state, which needs to be changed, amended whenever it requires and it is well defined in the constitution on how to amend it. It is a continuous process. Amendments were made to the constitutions of all the democratic countries in order to accommodate the needs of the time. They said constitution is for the welfare of the people as well as the state, so to bring any change in the constitution it is most important to take into consideration the will, emotion and feelings of the people and history of the country. But there is no consistency between the verdict of the apex court of Bangladesh regarding the constitution and deliberations of the Awami League leaders. Rather the constitution is getting an anti-people shape through the cancellation of the fifth amendment to the constitution.
Those who want to return to the 1972 constitution, they took the court verdict as final and they want to reestablish 'secularism' according to the verdict. But the constitutional experts have the opinion that when judges of the court give verdict on a matter of serious nature, they should consider the national reality and in their verdict this reality was not reflected. They just responded to the will of the ruling party. The judgment said, "secularism is the foundation our nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war." But it did not said that when and how secularism had become the foundation of our nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war. Nowhere in the speeches made by the Awami League policy makers in the past and in the party's policy, in the the proclamation of the independence or in the statements made by the provisional government in 1971 it was mentioned that secularism is the foundation of Bangladeshi nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war.
The framers of the 1972 constitution were elected in the general election held in 1970. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a radio broadcast before the election said, "Who say we do not believe in Islam. I want to make it clear that we believe in justice of Islam. Our Islam is the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (SM). Islam has given world the gift of justice. Those who think that in a country where 95 percent of the population are Muslim, there is a scope of passing anti-Islamic laws, in fact their 'Iman' is weak. We are fighting for the emancipation of the oppressed followers of Allah."
In the proclamation of the independence on 10 April 1971, it was said: "Whereas free elections were held in Bangladesh from 7th December, 1970 to 17th January, 1971, to elect representatives for the purpose of framing a Constitution,
Whereas at these elections the people of Bangladesh elected 167 out of 169 representatives belonging to the Awami League, .........
Whereas the people of Bangladesh by their heroism, bravery and revolutionary fervour have established effective control over the territories of Bangladesh,
We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh, as honour bound by the mandate given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a Constituent Assembly, and having held mutual consultations, and in order to ensure for the people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice, declare and constitute Bangladesh to be sovereign Peoples' Republic and thereby confirm the declaration of independence."
On 14 April 1971, the provisional government circulated a directive which was started with "Allahu Akbar" and after stating atrocities committed by the Pakistani forces it said, "the crime of the Bengalis is that they wanted to live keeping their head high with human dignity, their crime is that they wanted to live peacefully and with honor in this world created by Allah and following the guideance of Allah, their crime is that they declared their determination to establish a happy society by eliminating exploitation and oppression as directed by great Allah. Our strength is the help of Omnipotent Allah. ...... Remember, Allah has given His commitment, "It is certain that future is happier than the past..... Allah's help and victory is nearer."
Where is secularism in the above documents, which all are very important and menifestation of state policy? All the proclamations, policy statements bear the testimony of Awami League's reverence and dependence on Allah. There is no reason to identify 'secularism' as the 'inspiration of the liberation of war'. History of the country also says that. Is there any denial that the territory known as Bangladesh was achieved in 1947 on the basis of partition of the subcontinent between the Muslims and Hindus? The present Bangladesh was the erstwhile East Pakistan. The name of the country has changed, but the basis of the partition has not changed. With the independence of Bangladesh we did not return to the pre-partition situation as we had seperate identity from the very begining. With all consideration Bangladesh is a Muslim Country and there is no scope that secularism could be the foundation of our nationalism. The fifth amendment to the constitution had paved the way to practice muli-party democracy instead of one-party rule and secularism was replaced by expressing trust on Allah.
Through the verdict of the Supreme Court regarding the fifth amendment a scope has been created to implement certain political agendas of a party or circle. With the help of this verdict they are trying to achieve that goal. This is harmful not only for Islam and Muslims, it would hit the very existence of the country. Our neighbor India wants to see Bangladesh as a secular country. Indian commerce minister Joyram Ramesh during his visit to Dhaka in July 2007 said, "A secular Bangladesh is very important to the interest of India." Why they want to see Bangladesh as a secular country? If Bangladesh adopts secular policy and forgets its Muslim identity, it might be easier to wipe out the border between the two countries. Indian ambition could be realized in this way.
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Anwar Hossain Manju
E Mail : anwarmanju@yahoo.com
According to the constitutional experts, there is no term like 'original constitution'. The constitution is a set of rule to run the affairs of the state, which needs to be changed, amended whenever it requires and it is well defined in the constitution on how to amend it. It is a continuous process. Amendments were made to the constitutions of all the democratic countries in order to accommodate the needs of the time. They said constitution is for the welfare of the people as well as the state, so to bring any change in the constitution it is most important to take into consideration the will, emotion and feelings of the people and history of the country. But there is no consistency between the verdict of the apex court of Bangladesh regarding the constitution and deliberations of the Awami League leaders. Rather the constitution is getting an anti-people shape through the cancellation of the fifth amendment to the constitution.
Those who want to return to the 1972 constitution, they took the court verdict as final and they want to reestablish 'secularism' according to the verdict. But the constitutional experts have the opinion that when judges of the court give verdict on a matter of serious nature, they should consider the national reality and in their verdict this reality was not reflected. They just responded to the will of the ruling party. The judgment said, "secularism is the foundation our nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war." But it did not said that when and how secularism had become the foundation of our nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war. Nowhere in the speeches made by the Awami League policy makers in the past and in the party's policy, in the the proclamation of the independence or in the statements made by the provisional government in 1971 it was mentioned that secularism is the foundation of Bangladeshi nationalism and inspiration of the liberation war.
The framers of the 1972 constitution were elected in the general election held in 1970. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a radio broadcast before the election said, "Who say we do not believe in Islam. I want to make it clear that we believe in justice of Islam. Our Islam is the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (SM). Islam has given world the gift of justice. Those who think that in a country where 95 percent of the population are Muslim, there is a scope of passing anti-Islamic laws, in fact their 'Iman' is weak. We are fighting for the emancipation of the oppressed followers of Allah."
In the proclamation of the independence on 10 April 1971, it was said: "Whereas free elections were held in Bangladesh from 7th December, 1970 to 17th January, 1971, to elect representatives for the purpose of framing a Constitution,
Whereas at these elections the people of Bangladesh elected 167 out of 169 representatives belonging to the Awami League, .........
Whereas the people of Bangladesh by their heroism, bravery and revolutionary fervour have established effective control over the territories of Bangladesh,
We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh, as honour bound by the mandate given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a Constituent Assembly, and having held mutual consultations, and in order to ensure for the people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice, declare and constitute Bangladesh to be sovereign Peoples' Republic and thereby confirm the declaration of independence."
On 14 April 1971, the provisional government circulated a directive which was started with "Allahu Akbar" and after stating atrocities committed by the Pakistani forces it said, "the crime of the Bengalis is that they wanted to live keeping their head high with human dignity, their crime is that they wanted to live peacefully and with honor in this world created by Allah and following the guideance of Allah, their crime is that they declared their determination to establish a happy society by eliminating exploitation and oppression as directed by great Allah. Our strength is the help of Omnipotent Allah. ...... Remember, Allah has given His commitment, "It is certain that future is happier than the past..... Allah's help and victory is nearer."
Where is secularism in the above documents, which all are very important and menifestation of state policy? All the proclamations, policy statements bear the testimony of Awami League's reverence and dependence on Allah. There is no reason to identify 'secularism' as the 'inspiration of the liberation of war'. History of the country also says that. Is there any denial that the territory known as Bangladesh was achieved in 1947 on the basis of partition of the subcontinent between the Muslims and Hindus? The present Bangladesh was the erstwhile East Pakistan. The name of the country has changed, but the basis of the partition has not changed. With the independence of Bangladesh we did not return to the pre-partition situation as we had seperate identity from the very begining. With all consideration Bangladesh is a Muslim Country and there is no scope that secularism could be the foundation of our nationalism. The fifth amendment to the constitution had paved the way to practice muli-party democracy instead of one-party rule and secularism was replaced by expressing trust on Allah.
Through the verdict of the Supreme Court regarding the fifth amendment a scope has been created to implement certain political agendas of a party or circle. With the help of this verdict they are trying to achieve that goal. This is harmful not only for Islam and Muslims, it would hit the very existence of the country. Our neighbor India wants to see Bangladesh as a secular country. Indian commerce minister Joyram Ramesh during his visit to Dhaka in July 2007 said, "A secular Bangladesh is very important to the interest of India." Why they want to see Bangladesh as a secular country? If Bangladesh adopts secular policy and forgets its Muslim identity, it might be easier to wipe out the border between the two countries. Indian ambition could be realized in this way.
--------------------------------
Anwar Hossain Manju
E Mail : anwarmanju@yahoo.com
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