He was not allowed to do that as the Opposition and treasury benches threw its copies at each other. Members of the ruling alliance, the MMA, it may be recalled, had made a big issue of a similar spectacle last July, accusing an Opposition MPA, who had thrown a copy of the bill at the Law Minister, of showing disrespect to the document that contained religious references.
Notably, those who have been critical of the Hasba Bill are not only the Opposition parties in the NWFP but the Federal government as well as civil society groups all over the country who regard it as an attempt on the part of the MMA perpetual government to create a parallel judicial system and a infringement upon the fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. Hence the province's Governor had refused to give it his assent and, through a presidential reference, the Federal government had invoked the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC).
Announcing its ruling in August, the Court declared that sections 10, 12, 23, 25 and 28 of the bill were indeed ultra vires of the Constitution and hence need to be deleted. These sections relate to the powers and functions of the provincial Mohtasib, under whom the proposed vice and virtue police, to be called Hasba Police, was to function and who could prescribe punishments for alleged transgressions.
Still worse, there was no room for appeal against the Mohtasib's actions before regular courts. So far it is not known what new changes the MMA government has made in the previous bill. However, it had stated earlier that it would comply with the SC decision. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that the revised version has taken into account the Court's advice, and it no longer contains the provisions that the Court had said needed to be deleted for being in contravention of the Constitution.
Which means there will be no Taleban-style vice and virtue police to harass citizens, and the Mohtasib's powers to administer summary justice have also been deleted. In whatever form the provincial government presents the revised bill, it will have no problem getting it approved since it still commands a comfortable majority in the House.
As per the law, the Governor can send the bill back to the assembly for review only the first time. Even if he refuses to sign it the second time around it will become law. Still, if any of the sections that the Supreme Court has declared as ultra vires of the country's supreme law - the Constitution - have not been changed accordingly, the NWFP government will be in for fresh legal battles.
The Federal government as well as the Opposition parties have repeatedly averred that they intend to continue to resist it. Indeed, the Hasba Bill has become part of a bigger struggle between the retrogressive forces and enlightened sections of society along with the Federal government to assert their respective viewpoints on the role of government vis-à-vis fundamental rights and rule of law.
Even though the MMA government has the necessary support within the NWFP Assembly, if the bill remains in conflict with the Constitution and also the sentiment of civil society, it may not go very far.