LAHORE: Government and opposition members in Punjab Assembly on Friday unanimously demanded that government should immediately withdraw the recently passed Tahaffuz-e- Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020. The session of the assembly started two hours fifteen minutes late under the chair of Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazri.

The members of the assembly demanded that bill should be again referred to the House and government should constitute a committee comprising of members of all the sects. Showing their serious concerns on the bill they also demanded that it should be cleared that bill was moved by opposition or by treasury benches. If it was moved by government then it was passed by cabinet and if it was passed as a private members bill then it was approved by which committee.

Terming the bill as a conspiracy against the government Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari apologized to the people for supporting the bill. He also said that bill was passed by keeping us in dark. The assembly cannot tell a person what his sect will be.

PTI MPA Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi rejected the bill and raised serious objections on the bill. He demanded that bill should be amended. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza also announced his disassociation from the bill. He said that my name was also included in the committee even though I do not know neither I was intimated to attend any meeting regarding this bill.

PML (N) MPA Peer Ashraf Rasool while speaking on the floor of the House revealed that controversial bill was passed on the behest of Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar. PML (N) MPA's Agha Haider Ali and Peer Kazim Shah also showed their reservations on the bill.

While responding to the objections of the members of both sides on Tahaffuz-e- Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020 Law Minister Raja Basharat said that we will bring amendments in the bill after the consultation with the Ulema and religious scholars of all the sects.

He assured the House that until there is a consensus on the bill, there will be no progress on it. The government wants a complete consensus on the bill. He said that soon after the passage of the bill concerns were raised on the bill that's why government did not send it to the Governor Punjab for approval. Meanwhile, the Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2020 was introduced in the House.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020