The High Court of Bangladesh on June 8 asked the government to explain why the insertion of Islam as state religion in the constitution was not illegal and unconstitutional. The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Gobinda Chandra Tagore on Wednesday also asked why the Eighth Amendment to the constitution, that made Islam the state religion of Bangladesh, should not be annulled.
The amendment made on June 9, 1988 during the tenure of military strongman H M Ershad inserted Article 2A in the constitution which gave Islam the status of state religion. The move touched off furore in
