|
|
|
| July 15, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-us-Sani 7, 1426 |
Hasba bill will be blocked: governor
PESHAWAR, July 14: NWFP Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman has warned the provincial government to desist from enacting the ‘unconstitutional’ Hasba bill or the federal government would use its constitutional powers to block it. Differences between the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s provincial government and the NWFP governor surfaced for the first time on Wednesday since the tabling of the bill on Monday, with the latter issuing a strong-worded statement to the press.
Terming the bill unconstitutional and against the spirit of Islam, the governor issued a stern warning to the NWFP government that the (federal) government would block the legislation through constitutional means.
“The NWFP is my own province and I will never let anarchy to prevail,” said the governor during a press talk at his office on Wednesday.
In a press statement later faxed to newspaper offices, the governor said that “this legislation would be blocked by using all means allowed by the constitution”.
While the NWFP minister for law and parliamentary affairs Malik Zafar Azam tabled a motion before the provincial assembly on Wednesday for considering the bill, the governor warned that he would not allow what he called disintegration of society due to the enactment of the Hasba law in the province.
He said the government would take every action enshrined in the constitution to stop the enactment of a law which could create disintegration of society and curb individual liberty.
According to his press statement, the Hasba Bill was sent in 2003, for the first time, to the then NWFP governor who the sent the bill to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).
The council returned the bill in September 2004 with some objections, the statement said.
The first objection was that the institution of Ombudsman (Mohtasib) was already functional at the centre and in three provinces to address the complaints of the public.
The CII, according to the governor, had said that the Hasba bill was also in conflict with various sections of the constitution and the Objectives Resolution.
The council had suggested that instead of establishing a new institution, the already existing institutions should be strengthened.
The governor said that the bill was tabled in the provincial assembly without taking the objections of the CII into account. The CII is the only government institution tasked to bring laws in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah.
“The provincial government has not removed the objections of the CII,” the governor said.
“This bill is unconstitutional and a provincial assembly is not empowered to make any legislation which is in conflict with some sections of the constitution of Pakistan,” the governor said.
He said that no Islamic government except Talibans had used government institutions ‘to promote virtue and prevent vice’. The society should have the right to reform itself, he added.
“This bill will create anarchy in society as the Hasba Police and Mullahs will misuse this law,” the governor said.
|
|
|
|
