National Assembly Body Takes Exception To Fabricated Report On Pakistan's Minorities By UK Group

The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony on Monday took exception to a report published by a private parliamentary group of the United Kingdom, alleging that 'the country was not safe for minorities, especially Qadianis'.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Oct, 2021 ) :The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony on Monday took exception to a report published by a private parliamentary group of the United Kingdom, alleging that 'the country was not safe for minorities, especially Qadianis'.

The body met here with Member of National Assembly (MNA) Asad Mahmood in the chair, condemned the report which was aimed at defaming the country. It termed the report 'fabricated' and 'baseless'.

The committee observed that the minorities in Pakistan were safe and has been enjoying all the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

During the meeting, it was decided that a condemnation resolution would be tabled in the National Assembly against the false report.

The forum also directed to Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit a comprehensive report in this regard.

The meeting was attended by multiple MNAs including Saleem Rehman, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Prince Muhammad Nawaz Allai, Mujahid Ali, Chaudhary Javed Iqbal Warraich, Jamshed Thomas, Chaudhary Faqir Ahmed, Begum Tahira Bokhari, Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das, Mahar Irshad Ahmed Khan, Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah Jilani, Shahida Akhtar Ali, Naveed Amir Jeeva, Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Minister for Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri.

The body also passed a bill to further amend the Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) Act, 1973, whereas the bill to amend the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 was referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for its expert opinion in the light of Shariah.

Examining the bill titled Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) Act, 1973, the committee observed that there was no national-level department for protection and standardization of printing of the Holy Quran.

It called for establishing a national-level Quran board for this holy purpose.

It also noted that there was no law to recycle old Holy pages by ensuring their sanctity and approved the bill.

The forum also examined two other bills titled "The National Commission for Rights of Non-Muslims Act, 2021" moved by Naveed Amir Jeeva, and "The National Commission for Minorities Act, 2021" moved by James Iqbal.

However, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri informed the body that they had already constituted the National Commission for Minorities on the direction of the apex court.

However, they are shortly introducing a bill in the Parliament for the establishment and sustainably running the affairs of the Commission.

He requested, not to examine the two bills for the time being.

The committee postponed the examination of the two Bills till its next meeting.