LAHORE, Oct 28: Two minority representatives in the Punjab Assembly walked out of the house on Tuesday when the minister for excise and taxation, Dr Muhammad Shafiq, refused to tender an apology for “telling a lie” while quoting a Bishop as saying that “drinking is allowed in Christianity”.

The issue surfaced when the minister was replying to supplementary queries on a question put forward by deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan seeking details of permits issued to non-Muslims for the purchase and use of liquor.

Mr Khan had asked him how a person whose monthly income was just around Rs4,000 could afford alcohol worth Rs7,000 each month.

PPP’s Rana Aftab said the minister should inform the house which religion allowed drinking.

The minister admitted the fact that drinking was prohibited in Islam. However, he said, under certain laws drinks were offered to non-Muslims on various festivities and to foreigners to promote tourism.

On a point of order, Joel Sahutra asked the minister to explain when or at what festivity Christianity or other religions allowed drinking.

Dr Shafiq claimed that after taking oath as the minister when he went to a church in Lahore for the first time, Lahore Bishop John Alexander Malik told him that drinking was permitted in Christianity.

Three minority representatives stood up and protested against remarks of the minister. One of them, waiving a book that he claimed was the Bible, asked the minister to show a verse that permitted drinking.

They said that either the minister should tender an apology for telling a lie about their religious leader or he should give the remarks in writing so that they could ask the leader to explain the “attempt to mislead Christians”.

As the minister refused to tender an apology, Pervaiz Rafiq and another minority MPA walked out of the house.

The minister however said that he had not been fully heard by the MPAs. The Bishop, he added, had said that the kind of liquor permitted in Christianity was not available in Pakistan.

Urging the government to cancel all permits for liquor as these were being misused, Rana Sana said the chair should fix a day for a comprehensive discussion on the issue.

The chair refused to allocate time for the purpose during the present session of the house, saying that he had already allocated a full day for discussion on the local bodies’ system.