The depth of 5th amendment
Changes made to the constitution in around four years after the August 15, 1975 changeover altered the fundamental principles of state policy, destroyed the secular character of the constitution and allowed politics based on religion.
Besides, the changes replaced Bangalee nationalism with Bangladeshi nationalism, and provided political right to anti-liberation forces including Jamaat-e-Islami and war criminals that resulted in an alarming growth of political parties and organisations based on religion.
All those amendments, modifications, substitutions, omissions and additions to the constitution were indiscriminately made during the martial law rule that began immediately after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
And the constitution's fifth amendment bill passed in the second parliament during the rule of Ziaur Rahman in 1979 ratified all the actions that also made the supreme law of the land subordinate to martial law proclamations, orders and regulations.
The August 29, 2005 High Court verdict that declared the fifth amendment illegal also said it undermined the very sovereign character of the republic.
The Supreme Court on February 2 this year upheld the landmark HC verdict with 'modifications' and 'observations'. Copy of the apex court judgement might be released soon.
Article 8 of the original constitution, which speaks of the four fundamental principles of state policy--nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism -- was amended to omit secularism and insert the words "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah".
The principle of socialism was also given a new explanation, saying, "socialism would mean economic and social justice".
Socialism and freedom from exploitation in articles 9 and 10 were substituted by the concepts of promotion of local government institutions and participation of women in national life.
The amendment omitted article 12, which contained secularism and freedom of religion.
"These changes were fundamental in nature and changed the very basis of our war for liberation and also defaced the constitution altogether," the HC observed in its watershed verdict. The changes transformed secular Bangladesh into a "theocratic state" and "betrayed one of the dominant causes for the war of liberation of Bangladesh".
Trial of war criminals stopped and their political rehabilitation began with the scrapping of Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972 by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, who assumed presidency and put the country under martial law following the killing of Bangabandhu.
By the second proclamation on May 3, 1976, Justice AM Sayem, who became president later, omitted the proviso to Article 38 of the constitution, which banned politics based on religion.
In the light of the proviso, the Special Powers Act provides for punishment for use of religion for political purpose.
But omission of the proviso radically altered the nature of political activities in the country. It led to the rise of religion-based political parties, which were constitutionally banned immediately after the independence for their anti-liberation role.
The constitutional bar on war criminals convicted under Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972 from becoming voters and contesting parliamentary elections was also lifted during the rule of Zia.
During his military rule, Zia brought some fundamental changes to the constitution by a proclamation on April 23, 1977.
The preamble to the constitution was preceded by "Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim" (in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful).
The preamble also underwent two changes--the words "a historic struggle for national liberation" were replaced with "a historic war for national independence", and "nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism" were replaced with "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice".