- Zafar-ul-Haq-led committee to present report within 24 hours
LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Saturday formed a three-member enquiry committee to identify those responsible for making an amendment to the finality of prophethood declaration in nomination papers.
The enquiry committee is directed to submit its report to Nawaz within 24 hours.
Raja Zafar-ul-Haq will head the enquiry committee while the other members include Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and federal minister Mushahidullah Khan.
PML-N Spokesman Asif Kirmani said that the former premier has expressed concern over the incident and added that strict action will be taken against those responsible.
On Friday, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal had said that even thinking of amending the finality of Prophethood clause is a sin.
“Even thinking of amending this law is kufr,” said Iqbal while addressing a press conference.
“We are all Muslims. The finality of Prophethood is our part of our faith,” said the interior minister.
He also denied allegations that the clause was removed from the newly-passed act.
However, some people are using this to sow seeds to hatred in the society, said Iqbal.
The National Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved amendments to the Election Act 2017, restoring the original draft of the declaration relating to finality of prophethood which is mandatory to be signed by public office holders.
Earlier, Opposition parties had brought to notice that the election bill moved by the government had also changed the contents of a form regarding belief in Khatm-e-Nabuwat (finality of prophethood), which is required to be signed by public office holders and election candidates.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq then held a meeting with the parliamentarians and had clarified that there had been a “clerical error” that had affected the draft of Form A and had stated that the original form of the affidavit shall be preserved.
During the meeting, the parliamentarians agreed to restore the declaration to the original form it was in before the National Assembly passed the Elections Bill 2017 on Tuesday.