PESHAWAR, July 14: The Peshawar High Court Bar Association’s meeting on Thursday over the issue of the proposed Hasba Act ended amid pandemonium with conflicting claims by different groups regarding the decisions taken there. A group of lawyers, mostly belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami, raised slogans in favour of the proposed law, saying that the Hasba bill was in accordance with the constitution and Islamic injunctions.

The association’s cabinet announced that the meeting had decided to constitute a 12-member committee for reviewing the bill and presenting a report to the association within 12 days.

A group opposed to the formation of the committee denounced the move, saying that since the government was set to pass the bill on Thursday there was no need for setting up such a committee.

Some lawyers took exception to the statements given by federal ministers and the NWFP governor, stating that the federal government had been interfering in the affairs of the province.

They said that the NWFP Assembly was fully competent to enact a law. It was then up to the judiciary to decide whether any provision of the law was violative of the constitution or not.

The meeting, chaired by the bar’s president Iqbal Khan Mohmand, continued for three hours and a large number of lawyers participated in the debate.

According to a press release issued by the association’s secretary-general, Astaghfirullah Khan, the committee constituted for reviewing the bill included senior advocates Qazi Muhammad Jamil, Qazi Muhammad Anwer, Barrister Zahoorul Haq, Barrister Masood Kausar, Barrister Bachha, Abdul Lateef Afridi, Abdul Qadir Khattak, Ghulam Nabi, Said Tahar Khan, Sohail Akhter, Ms S. Naz Muhammadzai and Muhammad Aman Khan.

Earlier, Moazam Butt, Aman Khan, Mian Younas Shah, Abdul Hakeem Kundi, Abdullah Sani and Abdul Samad Khan criticized the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government for introducing the Hasba Bill and said the act was aimed at dividing the people on religious lines.

They said that laws were already in force on most subjects mentioned in the proposed law and the government should focus on fully implementing them.

Advocates Shamsul Haq, Fazalur Rehman and others supported the bill and said the provincial assembly was fully empowered to enact a law. They said the federal government had been interfering in the affairs of the province.