Alwaght- A top Bangladeshi court has maintained that Islam will remain the state religion in the country with a 90-percent Muslim population.
On Monday, a special bench of three judges threw out the petition within moments of opening the case and without allowing any testimony.
The petition, which was first launched 28 years ago by secularists, has triggered countrywide protests by Islamist groups in the impoverished nation.
In 1988 the then-military ruler, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, elevated Islam to the state religion in an attempt to consolidate power.
More than 90 percent of Bangladesh's population is Muslim, with Hindus and Buddhists the main minorities.
The country's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, responded to the court's decision by withdrawing a call for a nationwide strike. It described the outcome as a "victory of 160 million people".
Another group known as Hefazat-e-Islam, that has staged violent demonstrations in recent years, also welcomed the court's move. "We thank the high court for rescuing the country from a massive disaster," Hefazat's organizing secretary Azizul Hoque Islamabad was quoted as saying.
Constitutional changes dating back over three decades have put Bangladesh in the unusual position of being officially secular while still having Islam as a state religion.
Bangladesh has been plagued by unrest in the last three years and experts say a long-running political crisis has radicalised opponents of the government.
The ISIS terrorist group has claimed responsibility for many of these incidents, but the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blames local extremist groups for the upsurge in deadly violence.
Hasina's government has brought back secularism as a pillar of the constitution, but promised it would not ratify any laws that go against the central tenets of Islam.
