On 7th June 1988, the members of
the controversially elected parliament of Bangladesh passed the Constitution
(8th Amendment) Bill imposing Islam as the state religion of the country which
broke away from another religious-based country - Pakistan - only 17 years ago.
The four pillars of the Constitution of Bangladesh originally were nationalism,
democracy, secularism and socialism. Secularism and socialism were dropped from
the Constitution in 1977 to be replaced by ‘total faith in Allah’ and ‘social
justice’.
Ms Noriani Nik Badli Shah, research manager of Sisters in Islam, an NGO which lobbies for the rights of Muslim women, said not many Muslim women were aware of this right, and those who did were discouraged from using it by social pressure.
Nigeria’s leading Islamic council, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, overruled the death sentence or fatwa passed on a local newspaper reporter for an article considered blasphemous by Muslims.
Mianwali again saw a manifestation of one of the worst forms of religious extremism and fundamentalism in Pakistan, when Rukhsana Bunyad, a local social activist and district councilor was charged having allegedly made remarks against the Holy Qur'an.
A pregnant Nigerian student was released from custody and given temporary stay in Cyprus on Wednesday after she applied for asylum, fearing death by stoning in her homeland for having a child out of wedlock.
