LAHORE, July 13: Supreme Court Bar Association President Hamid Khan has said that Hisba Act and Shariat Bill were declaratory laws adopted in protest against the Legal Framework Order.

He was speaking at the Legislative Watch Programme of the Aurat Foundation here on Sunday.

According to the SCBA president, the declaratory laws were aimed at making political mileage. He was of the view that the two laws would benefit Gen Pervez Musharraf politically because these give the impression of the revival of the ‘Talibanization.’

He said that dissociation of the religious parties was a tragedy of our national politics which often resulted in making of issues out of non-issues by their leadership.

The adoption of Hisba Act and Shariat Bill by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government in NWFP was the latest example of making Islam an issue in a country inhabited by 98 per cent Muslims.

He said that law and order was the biggest problem faced by the provincial governments where political cadre was non-existent to tackle it effectively.

Two governments were also unable to get the governors of their choice appointed in their provinces. The NWFP government had tried to tackle the problem by promulgating a declaratory law relating to religion which was a federal subject.

He said that declaratory laws usually promoted hypocrisy and could turn into draconian laws when used by prejudicial rulers like the late Gen Ziaul Haq who had misinterpreted the Objectives Resolution to promulgate laws like the Hudood Ordinance.

He said that women and minorities felt threatened due to the adoption of the Shariat Bill and Hisba Act but the MMA supporters would be pacified.

Religious scholar Dr Muhammad Farooq Khan said that an Islamic state enforced only Zakat through its administration because it related to revenue generation. All other religious injunctions, including the prayers, were to be enforced through persuasion and institutionalization.

He said that even the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) and the Khulafa-i-Rashideen had not enforced any Islamic injunction by force.

He said that all the three major initiatives for enforcement of Islam through state during the past 80 years had proved a failure because those trying to do so tried to enforce a particular fiqa instead of Islam due to their narrow approach towards the religion.

He said that the initiative in Saudi Arabia had resulted in establishment of monarchy in the country. The initiative in Iran had established a theocracy and initiative in Afghanistan had resulted in Talibanization. Now the teachers of Taliban had started a new initiative in the NWFP by adopting the Shariat Bill and the Hisba Act.

He said that the MMA should desist from going ahead with its agenda as it would result in failure of another Islamization attempt.

He said that religion could not be enforced through laws like prescribing dress code for women, making beard compulsory for men, imposing a ban on photography and music and ignoring the basic principles of morality.