ISLAMABAD, July 15: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Qazi Mohammad Jamil on Friday said the association was considering challenging Hasba bill in the Supreme Court or the Federal Shariat Court (FSC). Talking to reporters here, he said he was in consultation with members of the executive committee to file a petition with the apex court as the Hasba Act violated citizens’ fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

He said he was also considering the option to move FSC since the law was ‘un-Islamic’.

Mr Jamil said the law approved by the provincial assembly vested absolute powers in the office of Mohtasib to act in accordance with his own whims and belief. “Islam has no place for priests and popes,” he observed.

“I am deeply anguished over the passage of the bill by the NWFP Assembly,” he said, and added that the law would only establish hegemony of one person called Mohtasib.

He feared that the Hasba police would have the powers to interfere into the personal life and matters of an individual, who would have no right to appeal in any court of law.

The SCBA president said the bill would create anarchy and chaos, and the people of the NWFP would live under the constant threat of persecution and witch hunting.

Meanwhile, Awami Himayat Tehrik Pakistan Chairman Maulvi Iqbal Haider on Friday challenged Hasba Bill in the Supreme Court.

In a six-page petition, he asked the court to direct the NWFP governor not to give assent to the bill passed by the NWFP Assembly. He also sought a declaration that the law was against the teachings of the Holy Quran, Sunnat, Constitution and the spirit of the nation.

He stated that the Constitution guaranteed protection of the fundamental rights of the people.

Hasba bill is a combination of many bills like establishment of ombudsman secretariat, parallel judicial system bill, Shariat enforcement bill, parallel police force bill, control of prices act and discipline rules.

Section 14 of Hasba bill, which deals with the contempt of Hasba, empowers the provincial Mohtasib to punish any person for his contempt — a power exercised by the high courts under the Contempt of Court Act 1976.