PESHAWAR: The opposition lawmakers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday lashed out at the provincial government for appointing only Jamaat-i-Islami activists as chairmen of district Zakat committees and local Zakat committees across the province.They questioned the appointment of the chairmen of Zakat committees, saying only JI workers have been appointed to the posts ignoring other competent people only because they have no affiliation with JI. Currently, the Zakat and Ushr portfolio is with JI.Debate on the Zakat committee appointments began after MPA Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha moved an adjournment motion in the house.

The MPA said merit had been violated in the said appointments.

“Only workers of a particular political party have been appointed chairmen of the district Zakat committees and local Zakat committees across the province,” he said.

Mr Bacha later told Dawn that of the 25 chairmen of the district Zakat committees, 23 belonged to JI and the rest to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. He told the house that the local MPAs, MNAs and elders of the respective areas were not taken into confidence on the appointment of the heads of Zakat committees at district and local levels.

“Tell me if only the Jamaat-i-Islami workers fulfil the criteria for such appointments,” he said while gesturing to provincial Zakat and Ushr minister Habibur Rehman.

The MPA urged the minister to pronounce that he doesn’t want to see people other than his party members in Zakat committees.

“Zakat is being used for political gains,” he said, adding that even government servants were appointed to local Zakat committees.

Participating in the debate, leader of the opposition Maulana Lutfur Rehman said Zakat was the right of the poor people and that it should not be used for someone’s personal benefit.

“It’s injustice to the poor people of the province that Zakat is distributed among workers of a political party,” he said.

Parliamentary leader of Awami National Party Sardar Hussain Babak said if a person with certain political ideology had been made responsible for Zakat distribution, then no one should expect that he will do the job impartially.

He said he had submitted a question to the secretariat of the assembly to seek details of the Zakat committee chairmen and their political affiliation but the secretariat rejected it declaring it irrelevant.

Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said the issue was very serious and therefore, his party expected that the provincial government would fulfil all legal requirements about it.

Responding to the criticism of the opposition lawmakers, Zakat and Ushr minister Habibur Rehman said appointments of the Zakat committee chairmen had been made in line with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat and Ushr Act, 2011.

“I can feel your sentiments in this regard but I am helpless,” he said without elaboration.

At the minister’s suggestion, the chair formed a house committee comprising all parliamentary leaders and representatives of the chief minister to recommend amendments to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat and Ushr Act, 2011.

Earlier, Sardar Hussain Babak told the house on a point of order that while the people picked bodies after a suicide bomb blast in Peshawar, the PTI leadership and followers danced to music in Islamabad.

“Imran Khan and other PTI leadership in their speeches didn’t bother to condemn the suicide blast and condole the families of its victims,” he said.

The house later passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regularisation of Services of Adhoc Lecturers Bill, 2014 but referred the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places (Security) Bill, 2014 to the relevant committee for recommendations.