PESHAWAR, May 27: The NWFP government has tabled the Shariat Bill, 2003, in the provincial assembly for discussion.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam tabled the North West Frontier Province Shariat Bill, 2003, before the House, which proposed certain measures for the immediate enforcement of Islamic Law.

The session, presided over by speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, began at the Assembly Hall on Tuesday.

The bill based on the objective resolution and recommendations of the Islamic Ideology Council contains not a single clause repugnant to the Constitution of Pakistan. The law would not affect the personal law, religious freedom, customs and status of the minorities in the province.

After its promulgation, three separate commissions on education, economic reforms and judicial system would be formed to bring some basic changes into the existing judicial, education and economic disciplines in the province.

The recommendations of all the three commissions would be tabled before the NWFP Assembly for discussion.

All the three commissions would comprise Ulema, jurists, educationists, bankers and intellectuals and they would suggest an alternative law and method and to the anti-Islamic practices in the three disciplines.

The judicial commission would suggest changes into the existing laws enacted in the tribal areas, falling under the NWFP limits.

The government would create a vice and virtue department to end the social evils, destroying the fabric of society.

The NWFP Assembly had also taken a strong notice of the smashing of advertising hoardings in the provincial metropolis by the Jamaat-i-Islami activists and demanded an immediate halt to what the lawmakers called hooliganism.

Speaking on a point of order, Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party drew the attention of the chair towards ransacking of the hoardings on Grand Trunk Road and criticized the police role.

He said: “During their anti-obscenity drive, the JI activists ransacked scores of billboards installed by the multinationals and the hoardings were smashed in the presence of the police.”

He said the JI activists had also threatened to smash the Bacha Khan’s embossed portrait on a pillar at the Bacha Khan Chowk. He inquired the government where to its component party was taking the province and asked the treasury benches not to create a civil war like situation.

Sikandar Sherpao of the PPP-S, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani of PML-Q, Rifat Akbar Swati of PPP-S, Abdul Akbar Khan of PPP, Dr Salim Khan and Anwar Kamal Marwat of PML-N endorsed the stand of Mr Bilour and spoke on the issue. They demanded of the government to take a stern action against the miscreants.

Speaking on the issue, the law and parliamentary affairs minister condemned the incident and told the House that the police had registered an FIR, by name, against all those who were involved in the ransacking of the hoardings.

He said his government was opposed to the exploitation of the womenfolk as it was contrary to the teaching of Islam and customs of the province, but they wanted a peaceful solution of it. Some of the multinationals had removed the women images from their hoardings, he said.

Three women MPAs of the MMA opposed the style of advertising wherein the images of women were presented as a bi-product on hoardings.

Pir Mohammad Khan of the MMA urged the government to withdraw the FIR against JI activists, because they did nothing illegal. When the speaker didn’t listen to him he walked out of the House.

Makhdoom Mureed Kazim of the PPP-S drew the attention of the chair towards the plight of working journalists and newspapers workers.

He told the House that newspaper owners had refused to implement the 7th Wage Award, and the journalists and workers were faced with hardships for several years.

Minister for Information Asif Iqbal told the House that the government had constituted a journalists-cum-owners committee to implement, at least, the wage ward in NWFP.