NA unanimously passes Election (Amendment) Bill

National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Election (Amendment) Bill 2017 which pertains to restoring the finality of the Prophethood clause to its original form.
The Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid presented a motion in the National Assembly for bringing an Election Amendment Bill 2017 for discussion. After the approval of motion from the lower house, the Bill was unanimously passed by the House.
In the bill, the Clauses 7B and 7C have also been included following which the old status of Ahmadi, Qadiani and Lahori Group as non-Muslim would remain same as per 7-B, while under 7-C, the Qadiani and Ahmadi will have to mention or add themselves in the voter lists as non-Muslim.
Section 7-B says that the status of Ahmedis remains as stated in the Constitution of Pakistan, while section 7-C states that if an enrolled voter’s belief in the finality of the prophethood is contended, they shall have to sign a declaration stating so, failing which their “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.”
The Bill seeks to incorporate and reaffirm the provisions of Articles 7-B and 7-C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002(Chief Executive’s Order No.7 of 2002) through addition of a new section 48A in the Election Act, 2017.
The bill was earlier passed by the cabinet while it was passed from the lower House after consensus of parliamentary leaders.
Zahid Hamid appreciated the role of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and lauded the efforts of parliamentary leaders for unanimous approval of the bill.
Zahid Hamid said that few people have leveled baseless allegations against him, adding that there was no conspiracy in the new bill. The minister said that he can never think to change the declaration of the bill as he believes in Khatm-e-Nabouat (finality of Prophethood).
Zahid Hamid said that he had performed Hajj for two times and he is a true lover and believer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

Source: APP