The Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission expressed serious concerns yesterday about the fifteenth amendment to the constitution and urged the prime minister to take immediate steps to respond to demands of Jumma people.
In a letter sent yesterday to the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the commission said the constitution of Bangladesh should not include any religion as a state religion.
The CHT Commission had been hopeful that the four founding values -- democracy, socialism, nationalism and secularism -- upon which the original 1972 constitution was founded would be upheld in full, said the letter.
"We are instead disturbed to note that many of the provisions now inserted in the constitution are antithetical to principles of equality, marginalised minorities", it read.
The letter was signed by three co-chairs of the CHT Commission -- Lord Eric Avebury, Sultana Kamal, and Elsa Stamatopoulou.
Source : The Daily Star
