Amid a spate of attacks by Muslim extremists on people belonging to minority groups, Bangladesh is reportedly considering abandoning Islam as its official religion.
A report by the Daily Mail said the country's Supreme Court has started hearing arguments that challenge Islam's status as the official religion of Bangladesh.
The move comes amid incessant attacks by Islamic extremists on people of other faiths such as Hindus, Christians and minority Shi'ites.
Last month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death and two devotees were injured in an attack on a temple in the country. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the killing in a communique posted by the ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity.
Bangladesh declared itself as a separate country after it split with Pakistan in 1971. In 1998, the country declared Islam as its state region. Today, religious minority leaders are disputing this in the latest court battle.
The debate also comes amid a U.S. warning that the terror group is stepping up recruitment in Bangladesh. Government authorities, however, maintain the extremist problems are "home grown."
''We have made arrests on each and every so-called ISIS-claimed attack. The attackers have confessed their crimes in court. They have also confessed being a Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh member, and denied any linkage with ISIS,'' said a Bangladesh police spokesman, Breitbart reported.
But the U.S. National Intelligence Agency insisted the attacks in the South Asian nation were the work of terror groups.
This was manifested in the written testimony of U.S. director of National Intelligence James Clapper that indicated the claims of responsibility from ISIS for 11 high profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities, and claims from the Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent for the killing of at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013.
Huffington Post also reported that local Islamist radicals and ISIS group have in the past claimed responsibility for killing minorities and foreigners. In 2015, seven people including four atheist bloggers and two foreigners were killed in separate attacks
Muslims make up some 90 percent of Bangladesh's population, while Hindus account for 8 percent and other religions—including Buddhism and Christianity—make up the rest.
