SENATE PANEL PASSES HINDU MARRIAGE BILL, 2016 | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

SENATE PANEL PASSES HINDU MARRIAGE BILL, 2016

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee on Human Rights on Monday passed The Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016 that bars marriage of Hindu couples below the age of 18 years.

The National Assembly has already passed The Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016.

The Human Rights Committee which met here with Senator Nasreen Jalil in the chair was attended by Senators Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Sitara Ayaz, Aitzaz Ahsan, Mufti Abdul Sattar, Nisar Muhammad and Dr Ashok Kumar. Moreover, some Hindu Parliamentarians including Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Dr Darshan and Sanjay Perwani also attended the meeting as special invitees.

The meeting also expressed grave concern over impunity with which some banned militant organisations continue to operate in the country and while demanding zero tolerance for banned organisations called for implementation on Justice Faiz Isa Report on Quetta carnage in true letter and in spirit.

Taking up the issue of protection to some banned outfits, Senator Farhatullah Babar questioned the rationale behind protecting Jaish-e-Muhammad Chief Maulana Masood Azhar from sanctions by the UN.

He said the Chinese government would not have stepped into protecting the Jaish unless the government of Pakistan had asked it so. We need to know why an outfit that is banned in Pakistan as a militant organisation should be protected from sanctions by the UN, he said and demanded the government to come out clean on it.

This dichotomy and ambivalence raised serious questions about what we say and do, he added.

The committee decided to ask for clarification from the government on the issue.

The committee expressed surprise over the response of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to the question as to why National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) board of governors had not met, even once during the past over two years.

In reply to a question about no meeting of NACTA board, the interior minister had said that the question should be asked from Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, instead of him.

He had said that the issue had been partially addressed through the NACTA Amendment Bill that was passed by the Senate Committee on Interior in May last, but there was no further progress on it.

The committee directed the Ministry of Interior to pursue the NACTA Amendment Bill to address the issue.

The Chairman National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) informed the committee that a central character behind the recent attack on Ahmadis worship place in Dulmial, Chakwal, is a Canadian national of Pakistani origin who is still at large.

He disclosed that NCHR has already written a letter to the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad about the involvement of Canadian national in the incident. The committee asked for resettlement of those who have left their homes and also called for giving compensation to the victims. Under any other agenda item, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the space for workers and labourers to form unions is shrinking day by day and today more than 90 per cent of workers have no right to form unions.

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