Punjab Assembly Adopts Resolution Banning Of Blasphemous Literature; Fateha Offered For Plane Crash, Coronavirus Victims

Punjab Assembly on Friday adopted a unanimous resolution against the presence of blasphemous literature in the country while reiterating its resolve that the house is the custodian of 'Finality of Prophethood' and Namoos-e-Risalat (PBUH).

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jun, 2020 ) :Punjab Assembly on Friday adopted a unanimous resolution against the presence of blasphemous literature in the country while reiterating its resolve that the house is the custodian of 'Finality of Prophethood' and Namoos-e-Risalat (PBUH).

Speaker Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, while chairing the historic Punjab Assembly session at a local hotel, directed the government to ban three blasphemous books 'The First Muslim', 'After the Prophet' and 'Short History of Islam' in the country and forfeit all the copies and sought report within a week on the matter.

Earlier, Punjab assembly session started 1 hour 22 minutes behind its scheduled time of 3:00 p.m. with recitation from the holy Quran followed by Naat Rasool-e-Maqbool (PBUH).

Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi chaired the first-ever session outside the Punjab Assembly chambers.

The PA Speaker took up the matter soon after the session started. The interim report of the Committee No 6 was laid by MPA Mian Muhammad Shafi which testified the presence of sacrilegious literature and the house adopted the resolution unanimously after it was tabled by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat.

The report was submitted in the light of resolution tabled by Provincial Minister for Mines and Mineral Hafiz Ammar Yasir during the last session of the PA.

Provincial Minister Raja Basharat, while presenting the resolution, said the availability of such sacrilegious literature in the country was a matter of embarrassment for the government, adding that the books by Lesley Hezelton 'The First Muslim', and 'After the Prophet' and Mazharul Haq's 'Short History of Islam' were full of blasphemous matter against Hazrat Ayesha Siddiqa (RA), and caliphs of islam Hazrat Usman Ghani (RA) and Hazrat Ali (RA).

Leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Parlaimentary Leader Hassan Murtaza and MPAs Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan and Muhammad Muawiya hailed the chair for taking up the matter of blasphemous publication and sale of blasphemous literature in the country.

Speaking on a point of order, Opposition bencher Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan said the government must expose the criminals who had hatched a conspiracy of publishing blasphemous books. He also urged the chair to take up the issue of Punjab education Fountion (PEF) during the current session.

Leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz Sharif the government should act wisely in the matter of blasphemous books and PEF matters. He showed solidarity with the people who had suffered from COVID-19 while he expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives in the plane crash tragedy. Hamza Shehbaz also condoled the demise of parliamentarians in Punjab and Sindh.

Hamza Shehbaz paid tribute to former bureaucrat Mujahid Sherdil who lost his life in the Karachi plane crash, adding that Sherdil was an honest bureaucrat.

Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat, however, was quick to correct Leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and said the government had not shown any laxity in the matter of 'Finality of Prophethood' and 'Namoos e Rislaat' (PBUH), adding the opposition MPA had referred to the lethargy in the resolving PEF matter by the Punjab school Education Minister.

Speaking on a point of order, treasury benches MPA Uzma Kardar said Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) was the defender of Namoos-e-Risalat and Finality of Prophethood, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan was the only leader of the Muslim world who took up the issue of blasphemous caricatures and told the world how Muslims doted on the last Prophet of Allah, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).

Uzma Kardar regretted opposition's baseless allegation of government's silence over blasphemous books, adding that the opposition had no other agenda and wanted to defend Shebaz Sharif despite the latter's corruption.

A panel of chairman was also announced for the current session comprising MPAs- Mian Muhammad Shafi, Abdullah Warraich, Sardar Muhammad Awais Dareshak and Zakia Shahnawaz.

Punjab Assembly also adopted a unanimous resolution to condole the demise of Members Punjab Assembly Shaheen Raza and Shaukat Manzoor Cheema who died of COVID-19, the martyrs of the plane crash tragedy in Karachi and all those who died of coronavirus in the country.

Fateha was also offered for the departed souls of deceased parliamentarians, 98 martys of the plane crash and coronavirus victims in the country.

Later, keeping in view the coronavirus situation, PA Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahiadjourned the session till June 8 (Monday) at 2 p.m. despite the unfinished businessof the day which would be taken up on Monday.