April 1, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 28, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, March 31: Adviser to the Punjab chief minister, Col Shujaat Hussain Shah (retired), said government officials, including ministers, MNAs, MPAs and Nazims, should boycott those wedding ceremonies in which one-dish law was being violated.

The adviser, who is also responsible for the implementation of Marriage Ordinance-2003 in Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum districts, was speaking at a seminar on the ordinance at the Punjab House on Monday.

He said the ordinance, which had been converted into a law after approval of the Punjab assembly, was in the best interests of the poor and middle class. Now it is the duty of marriage committees at the union council and tehsil levels to ensure implementation of the law, he added.

The adviser to the Punjab chief minister on human rights and law, Rana Ijaz Ahmed, said judicial magistrates were authorized to impose a fine, ranging between Rs100,000 and Rs200,000, on the law violators. The government has constituted marriage committees to reduce the role of police, he added.

“The number of guests at Barat or Waleema receptions must not exceed 300 people.”