PESHAWAR, July 15: NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq and Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam said on Friday that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s provincial government would defend the Hasba bill at all fora. “We will not budge an inch from our stated position on the issue and will keep on defending the bill at every forum,” Mr Haq said while talking to journalists.
Reacting to the central government’s filing of a reference in the Supreme Court against the bill, he said that it contained nothing unconstitutional or against fundamental rights of the people.
Mr Azam said that they had issued directives to the advocate-general and law departments of the province to make preparation for defence of the bill in the court.
“We are sending the senior minister to Lahore to consult with Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Fazlur Rehman and will hire a senior lawyer to defend the bill,” he said and added that the fee of the lawyer would be paid by the MMA and not by the provincial government.
“We have confidence over the Supreme Court and expect justice from it,” he said and added that they were astonished that the Hasba bill had been challenged in the court before becoming an act.
“The Peshawar High Court has dismissed a similar writ petition on the ground that it has not become an act,” he pointed out.
Mr Azam said that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain gave a statement an hour before the passing of the bill, saying that the central government would challenge it in the court.
He said that the bill was the first law in the history of the country which was debated in seminars, open forums and the media for about two years and the PML leader’s statement that it was passed in haste was contrary to the facts.
THANKSGIVING: Mr Haq said that the people in the province were observing a “thanksgiving day” today to welcome the passage of the bill by the Frontier Assembly.
“America and Britain with their stooges around the world are voicing concern against the bill because they cannot see implementation of Shariat in any Muslim country,” he told worshippers in his Friday khutba at the historic Mohabat Khan Mosque.
He said that people in mosques, villages and bazaars were celebrating the passage of the bill.
Before and during his sermon, people shouted slogans of Allah-o-Akbar, Islam Zindabad, Shariat Zindabad and MMA Zindabad. Sweats were distributed among the people in the mosque.
The senior minister said that the basic objective of the Hasba bill was to implement Amr Bil Maroof wa Nahee Anil Munkar (to order good and forbid evil) in the society.
He said that every person would be made accountable under the new law. “No one will be above the Hasba law. From rulers to the ruled, every one will be treated equally,” he said.
Mr Haq said that under the Hasba law anti-Islamic activities would be forbidden and rights of minorities and women would be protected.
He said that 140 million people were supreme to the parliament and the Supreme Court.
He regretted that the central government was opposing the bill and said that it was according to Islam and constitution.
“President Musharraf, the prime minister and federal ministers all are Muslims but to appease America, they are opposing the Hisba Bill,” he said.
He said that the MMA government would not compromise on Islamic laws and would render sacrifices to safeguard them.
He said that the central government wanted them to confine religion only to mosques as the Christians had confined Christianity to the church. “Islam is a complete code of life and we will make Shariat law supreme in every field,” he added.
He said that they had the support of 20 million people of the Frontier province and no one would defeat them. He said that the MMA wanted Islamic system in the whole country but powers of the NWFP government were limited.