Demands of Radical Muslims in Bangladesh Violate Religious Rights

Bangladesh PM rejects Muslim demand for blasphemy law
ICC Note:
With demands of Radical Muslims laid out in Bangladesh, and their ultimatum deadline approaching, Christians wonder what is next for Bangladesh. They say, “Their demands are against the religious rights which are enshrined in the Constitution…If they are met, the religious matrix of the country will be upside down and the country will be on the slippery slope towards hatred and confrontation like Pakistan.”
4/10/2013 Bangladesh (WorldWatchMonitor)-  The Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has turned down the demand of radical Islamists to enact a blasphemy law to punish those who desecrate Islam and its prophet Muhammad.
One hundred thousand activists belonging to Hefazat-e-Islam, an umbrella Islamic organization, had earlier rallied on 6th April in the capital Dhaka to press their demands for the government to enact a new blasphemy law with provisions for the death penalty.
Ms. Hasina told the BBC: “They have demanded it. Actually, we don’t have any plan to [bring in the law]. We don’t need it. They should know that existing laws are enough…This country is a secular democracy. So each and every religion has the right to practise their religion freely and fairly. But it is not fair to hurt anybody’s religious feeling. Always we try to protect every religious sentiment”.
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Stop evangelism
The Hefazat-e-Islam activists also demanded a stop to conversions by Christian missionaries in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and elsewhere in Bangladesh.
Reverend Shetu Munshi, a leader of the Assemblies of God Church, said practice and preaching of any religion is permitted:
“Their demands are against the religious rights which are enshrined in the Constitution…If they are met, the religious matrix of the country will be upside down and the country will be on the slippery slope towards hatred and confrontation like Pakistan.”
Ultimatum
The Islamists have now given a three-week ultimatum to the government to meet their demands. They say they will go for a countrywide blockade program on 5th May.
Junayed Babu Nagari, secretary general of Hefazat-e-Islam, declared in their rally that they would lay siege to the whole country and bring it to a grinding halt unless their demands were met. “We will cut off the capital Dhaka from the rest of the country on that day” he threatened.
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