Govt cannot revive '72 constitution: Moudud
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Senior BNP leader and former law minister Moudud Ahmed has said the government cannot revive the 1972 constitution.
"The government can never return to the main constitution. It will require repealing oppressing laws and dropping the word 'bismillah' from the constitution that they can never do," he said while speaking at a discussion in the city Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
Senior ministers, including Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed, on several occasions said the government would return to the '72 constitution, the main one adopted after Bangladesh's independence that contained the four basic principles on which the War of Independence from Pakistan had been fought.
Moudud Ahmed, now a member of parliament, said: "Awami League (AL) cannot implement what they (AL leaders) are saying."
Centre for Democracy and Peace Studies (CDPS) organised the discussion titled "Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is the Safeguard of Bangladesh".
Referring to the fifth amendment issue, which is now pending with the Supreme Court, the former minister expressed the hope that the highest court would reject the High Court's August 29, 2005 verdict that declared the fifth amendment illegal.
The Fifth Amendment had given constitutional legitimacy to military governments after the 1975 assassination of independence hero president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Criticising the move to ban religion-based politics, he said: "Bangladesh constitution allows politics by all people."
He posed a question: "Why Islamist people will not get the rights to do politics when communists and atheists can do politics here."
The former law minister said they want to be free from politics of division. "All people have been given rights to do politics. If anyone does secret politics against the state and constitution, they are punishable under the existing law."
"The government can never return to the main constitution. It will require repealing oppressing laws and dropping the word 'bismillah' from the constitution that they can never do," he said while speaking at a discussion in the city Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
Senior ministers, including Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed, on several occasions said the government would return to the '72 constitution, the main one adopted after Bangladesh's independence that contained the four basic principles on which the War of Independence from Pakistan had been fought.
Moudud Ahmed, now a member of parliament, said: "Awami League (AL) cannot implement what they (AL leaders) are saying."
Centre for Democracy and Peace Studies (CDPS) organised the discussion titled "Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is the Safeguard of Bangladesh".
Referring to the fifth amendment issue, which is now pending with the Supreme Court, the former minister expressed the hope that the highest court would reject the High Court's August 29, 2005 verdict that declared the fifth amendment illegal.
The Fifth Amendment had given constitutional legitimacy to military governments after the 1975 assassination of independence hero president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Criticising the move to ban religion-based politics, he said: "Bangladesh constitution allows politics by all people."
He posed a question: "Why Islamist people will not get the rights to do politics when communists and atheists can do politics here."
The former law minister said they want to be free from politics of division. "All people have been given rights to do politics. If anyone does secret politics against the state and constitution, they are punishable under the existing law."