Home »General News » Pakistan » Forced religious conversion: panel refers two crucial bills to CII
A parliamentary panel on Friday examined two crucial bills on forced religious conversion and referred them to Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to get its opinion in light of Shariah. The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, which met here with MNA Asad Mehmood, examined two bills regarding forced religion conversion.

The first bill - The Prohibition of Forced Religious Conversion Bill, 2019 - was moved by MNA Naveed Aamir Jeeva and the other bill titled 'The Protection of Persons against Forced Religious Conversion Bill, 2019' was moved by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.

After recent incidents of alleged abductions of Hindu girls and their forced conversion to Islam, human rights and minority groups have demanded the government to resurrect and pass the bill criminalizing forced religious conversions and subsequent forced marriages.

The panel disposed of a bill regarding Evacuee Trust Properties (ETP) as it found it contrary to Articles 25 and 27 of the Constitution.

The committee came down hard on Pak-PWD, saying its performance is appalling and action is needed to make it efficient as it is going from bad to worse.

The committee was informed that there are three projects of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, which are being executed by Pak-PWD. But none of the projects including the project of Hajj Complex Quetta, which had been started in 2004, could be completed despite passage of so many years.

The panel directed the authorities concerned to submit a detailed report regarding the inordinate delay in completion of the project, so that action could be taken against those responsible for this.

It also discussed the 2019 Hajj arrangements and showed satisfaction on them. However, it formed a sub-committee headed by Shagufta Jumani to examine the Hajj arrangements and propose suggestions to further improve arrangements next time.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019


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