Recent attacks on religious minorities could cause Bangladesh to drop Islam as the nation's official religion, reports Times Of India. The country's Supreme Court is reportedly currently hearing arguments in favor of removing Islam as the official religion of Bangladesh.
Various religious minority groups in the country have recently faced violent attacks that are believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists, namely Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team. These extremist groups are believed to be home-grown and the country's government would prefer to view this problem as purely internal, but there is a possibility that the notorious Daesh terrorist group could have already infiltrated Bangladesh in order to conduct recruitment activities.
Bangladesh declared Islam its official religion not too long ago, in 1988, and this step is still being argued by religious minority leaders as illegal. However, 90 percent of population is officially considered to be Muslim today, with only 8 percent Hindu and as few as 2 percent consist of various religious minorities, including Christians. Thus, the possible spread of support for the move to drop Islam, still remains unknown.
During August 2015, secular Bangladesh bloggers have become a target for attacks for ‘blasphemy', causing Gonojagoron Mancha (people's resurgence platform) activists to gather mass protests. Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed the responsibility for the attacks, which was argued by Ansarullah Bangla Team.
