Aissa Ben Lhakhdar Responds To The Controversy Over Threatening Schools, Mosques

People who talk about articles in the draft constitutional amendment threatening identity, want to flatten the ideas of citizens because the constants are preserved by the new constitution, Aissa Ben Lakhdar, the advisor to the Presidency in charge of civil society said on Wednesday when he was hosted by the national 1st Radio program “Morning Guest”.

“These articles do not contain any deviation from values. Whoever said this wants to spread lies about this article.”

The third paragraph of Article 51 states that; “the state protects the mosque from any political or ideological influence. They think that this text may make the imam of the mosque, for example, forbidden from talking about jurisprudential issues such as usury, justice and others”.

The fourth paragraph of Article 65 states that; “The state ensures the impartiality of educational institutions and preserves their pedagogical character to protect them from any political or ideological influence.”

According to Aissa Ben Lakhdar, the school is neutralized from ideological conflicts, the constitution gave a comprehensive meaning, and the laws explain, for example, syndicates’ conflicts disturb the schools’ work and sectarian conflicts disturb the mosque’s work.

“As for the constants, they are preserved, as the constitution states that Islam is the religion of the state and we were not born today. These people want to flatten the ideas of Algerian youth so that they think that today we want to embrace a new religion and sew a new flag.”

Islamic parties, led by the Movement for Peaceful Society, said they will vote with “No” to the constitutional amendment because of their reservations as they said lies on articles that pose a threat to identity, especially those related to the role of the school and the mosque.