As Shakespeare aptly told us, roses, no matter what you call them, will smell as sweet. The same, metaphorically speaking, can be said of religious parties: drop Islam from their party names, but the ideological leanings and support for militant fringes will remain.
This could soon become apparent in Bangladesh, where the supreme court recently upheld a 2005 high court judgment banning religion-based parties. That said, if it is appealed, the ruling could set an interesting precedent for the separation of religion and politics in Muslim-majority countries.
The supreme court ruling reverts to Bangladesh’s original, secular 1972 constitution, drafted by the Awami League (AL), which is currently in power. The ruling will force religious parties to drop religious references from their names ...
Putting out a fire with gasoline
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Is the Supreme Court politically motivated?
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Obama: rhetoric vs reality
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The same old song
• There goes Amreeka Bahadur, once again doing exactly the wrong thing. As quoted in this newspaper of record Richard Holbrooke, the czar of American policy planning for Afghanistan and Pakistan ...Pakistan: Unparliamentary
• The first parliamentary session of the new year kicked off yesterday with the opposition gearing up to hurl brickbats at the government for all that ails the country and the ...Quadrilateral ties
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• Much is written about how the Constitution can be made better; how wars should be fought; why party leaders should be elected and not selected; why controversial judges and their ...2010 — grand challenges
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Energising the peace process
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A flawed charter?
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Towards infamy
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Can’t win, blame Pakistan
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Over the top
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Up in the Air
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Capital crown
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Doing it to ourselves
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Happily ever after?
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Ghairat: an extinct commodity
2 Some time ago I was having a conversation with one of my friends, a renowned professor settled abroad. He is internationally known for his academic work and books published in ...
Kerry-Lugar bill — a critique
% Jus days before the US President Barack Hussain Obama will be signing the Kerry-Lugar bill thus turning it into law, Pakistan's political parties have woken up to the problems that ...
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