PESHAWAR, July 11: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government tabled the controversial Hasba bill 2005, in the provincial assembly on Monday amid shouts of disapproval by opposition lawmakers, who tore up copies of the document. MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was sitting in the visitors’ gallery, witnessed the protest by opposition lawmakers who described the Hasba law as a move towards enforcement of clerics’ dictatorship in the NWFP.

When Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Malik Zafar Azam rose to table the bill, on behalf of the chief minister, all but four opposition lawmakers stood up and started shouting ‘NO’. Mukhtiar Khan advocate of the Awami National Party and Nighat Orakzai of the Pakistan Muslim League tore up copies of the bill and hurled the pieces at the minister.

However, the MMA lawmakers greeted the minister by thumping their desks. They also congratulated each other.

Malik Zafar Azam complained to the chair that someone had hit him with a bundle of papers.

When the house met after the tea break, MMA lawmakers criticized the opposition MPAs for what they called committing an act of sacrilege by tearing up copies of the bill that contained the name of the Prophet (PBUH) and some of His sayings. They advised the lawmakers to seek an apology from the 20 million people of the province, whose religious feelings had been hurt by their ‘sinful action’.

Speaking on the issue, Maulana Mohammad Idrees of the MMA said that it was their (opposition’s) right to oppose the bill, but they could not ‘desecrate’ copies of the bill. He said it was a great sin to tear up and throw the document and that opposition lawmakers had hurt the feelings of the Muslims.

The opposition lawmakers became defensive, when MMA ministers Sardar Idrees, Maulana Ismatullah, Hafiz Hashmat Khan and Maulana Fazle Ali endorsed the stance of Maulana Idress.

Gursurn Lal, a minority MMA lawmaker, condemned the desecration of the holy document and demanded stern action against the MPAs involved in the condemnable act.

Defending his fellow MPAs, Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the ANP said it was unfair to make issue of a non-issue.

He said they too were devout Muslims and could not think of desecrating a document containing the sayings of the Prophet (PBUH). He advised the treasury benches to stop attacking his colleagues for opposing the bill.

Leader of Opposition Shahzada Mohammad Gustasip also said rejection of a bill should not be dubbed as sacrilegious act. He said it was their view that the Hasba law was a controversial issue and it should not be adopted unilaterally.

Later, Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians reminded the MMA ‘hawks’ that their leaders had tossed away copies of the constitution, which contained the Objectives Resolution, in the past in the National Assembly. He asked the treasury benches not to make it an issue.

Earlier, talking to journalists during the tea break in the chamber of the speaker, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said it was a day of jubilation for the 20 million Muslims of the NWFP. The MMA was slowly, but successfully moving towards its goal. The Hasba law could be improved by incorporating positive proposals of the opposition, he added.

He said the MMA had done nothing wrong by introducing the bill, as it was part of their political agenda. He said if PML chief Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain believed in the advice of the Islamic Ideology Council, he should put IIC recommendations into practice.

Meanwhile, a government spokesman in Islamabad rebutted the MMA claim that the alliance had sent a copy of the draft bill to the president.