An amendment to Elections Act, 2017 the [The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017] was unanimously passed by the Senate on Friday, incorporating the provisions of Articles 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order-2002 with regard to the status of Ahmadis or Lahori Group.
Law and Justice Minister Zahid Hamid moved the bill for its adoption, as the House began its fresh session, primarily summoned to pass two key bills ie the Elections Act and Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2017. However, The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2017 - a bill to pave the way to delimit the constituencies of the National Assembly on the basis of provisional census data, could not be passed due to absence of majority member, and was deferred till Monday by the chairman Senate.
The amendment to the Elections Act and Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2017 restores a declaration for the voters regarding 'Finality of the Prophethood' and makes the sections relating to the Ahmadi community more effective. Section 7B states that the status of Ahmadis remains as stated in the Constitution while Section 7C states that if belief of a voter is questioned through a revising authority, he or she will sign a declaration to reaffirm belief, otherwise his or her name will be entered as non-Muslim in a separate provisional list.
The bill inserts Section 48A in the Act XXXIII of 2017 and it says: status of Ahmadis etc to remain unchanged; notwithstanding anything contained in this act or any other law for the time being in force, including rules or forms prescribed thereunder the status of Quadiani Group or the Lahori Group (who call themselves Ahmadis or by any other name) or a person, who does not believe in the absolute and unqualified Finality of the Prophethood of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH), the last prophet, or claimed or claims to be a prophet, in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever after Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) or recognises such a claimant as a prophet or religious reformer shall remain the same as provided in the Constitution, 1973.
"If a person has got himself enrolled as a voter and objection is filed before the revising authority notified under this act that such a voter is not a Muslim, the authority shall issue a notice to him to appear before it within 15 days and require him to sign a declaration regarding his belief about the absolute and unqualified Finality of the Prophethoot of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH).
"In case he refuses to sign the declaration, he shall be deemed to be a non-Muslim and his name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to a supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim. In case the voter does not turn up in spite of service of notice, an ex parte order may be passed against him," it says.
Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan feared the section pertaining to the voter might be misused to settle scores with rivals at the time of registration of a voter. He referred to the 'misuse of blasphemy law' over the years by individuals and groups against rivals, whether it was an issue regarding land or a water dispute.
He pointed out that the trend of filing applications against the opponents might be set to delete names of voters and this might not end. Aitzaz also said that he had come to the Senate to vote for the bill, as he wished the ambiguity in the law be settled.
Aitzaz recalled his speech during the joint sitting of the Parliament in September 2014 against the sit-in at that time and that how the protestors had demanded resignation of a prime minister and held the Parliament hostage by using their sit-in.
And, he continued, now a sit-in is being held under the Faizabad Intersection while there is hardly any government around, as it is huddling at Jati Umra with the Prime Minister, foreign minister, interior minister, railways minister in presence there. "Then voices are raised as to why the Parliament is dissolved and the government is sent home, if the government behaves this way," he said.
Aitzaz said while the Parliament has already decided to bring amendment in the law but the vote being cast in the evolved situation suggested that the matter would not end here and there would be more attempts to bring the Parliament under pressure and get demands met.
Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq greeted the Senate Chairman, NA speaker, heads of parliamentary parties and lawmakers for their cooperation in making legislation with consensus. He added if any law, enacted here, could entail negative impacts by its misuse then the Parliament would offer its solution too. He said the Parliament had passed the amendment in accordance with the Muslim belief.
Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and JI's Sirajul Haq also congratulated the Parliament and said that the status of Ahmadis, who were declared non-Muslims in the Constitution 1973, has been reaffirmed today.
Sirajul Haq raised a point. To which, Rabbani asked the law minister to satisfy the senator. APP adds: Hamid told the house that the amendments would define the status of non-Muslims including Ahmadi, Qadiani and Lahori group and would not include them in the joint electoral lists as Muslims. The amendments would change forms of oaths of the candidates and the voters.
He clarified that the law on Finality of Prophethood (PBUH) was already
passed by the Parliament and any changes made in the past, were taken back.
Earlier, Chairman Senate announced a panel of Senators including Senator
Tahir Mashhadi, Senator Nuzhat Sadiq and Senator Ahmed Hassan for presiding over the session.
Chairman Senate refused adjournment motions moved by Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh, Senator Tahir Mashhadi, Senator Karim Ahmad Khawaja, Senator Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail, Senator Shahi Syed, Senator Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri and Senator Mohsin Aziz on the latest political situation, climate change and loans to be paid by Pakistan.
Earlier, the house offered Fateha for those who lost lives in different incidents of violence in Balochistan and along the border with Afghanistan.
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