Dhaka - A group of Islamists demanded Saturday that the secular law minister of Bangladesh's three-month old coalition government should resign after his reported comments that Quami Madrashas (Islamic schools) were breeding militants. "We want the minister to resign immediately, otherwise we will continue with regular protests until our demands are met," Fazlul Haq Amini, head of Islamic Law Committee formed by an alliance of radical Islamists, told a press conference.

The committee also announced protest plans including a demonstration on April 18 and a meeting in Dhaka on June 21 asking Law Minister Shafique Ahmed to quit.

The Islamists also demanded resignation of the director general of Bangladesh's state-run Islamic Foundation, Shamim Mohammad Afzal, who also reportedly made similar comments.

Shafique, a technocrat minister who criticised former military dictator Hussein Muhammad Ershad for introducing Islam as a state religion replacing secularism in the country's constitution in the mid-1980s, reportedly recently said that the Quami Madrashas were breeding grounds for militants.

The minister, however, told the media that he was misquoted.

Fazlul Haq Amini, a member of the four-party opposition alliance led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia, at the press conference in Dhaka criticised the reported remarks.

"These madrasas have no link with militant activities. Blaming them is motivated," he said adding that the minister's comments proved that he was ignorant about madrasha education in Bangladesh.

The law minister had said earlier that the madrasas might be brought under the Education Ministry in line with government plan to modernise madrasha education.

Taking office in early January, Sheikh Hasina Wazed's ruling alliance has pledged for change in every sector, including modernisation of madrasha education..

But the Islamists opposed the ideas saying that they would not accept any change in teachings of the Quran and Hadith in the name of modern education.

"If the government forcibly tries to amend the Quami syllabus it would be treated as a move to close the madrasas," Amini said. (dpa)