Pakistan's parliament restores finality of prophet law

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistani parliament's lower house on Thursday passed a bill restoring a key clause about the finality of Prophet Mohammad amid countrywide protests.

The clause was modified in a legislation billed last month, which was actually meant to pave way for the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return as the ruling party head, following his ouster by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers scandal this July.

The government had termed the modification a “clerical mistake”, and agreed to restore the clause to its original form after several religious parties launched countrywide protests.

According to the restored clause, the voters at the time of registration for the general elections have to declare that they believe in the finality of Prophet Mohammad, failing which, their names will be included in a separate list for Ahmedis or Qadianis -- a minority sect which was declared non-Muslim by the parliament in 1974.

The religious groups blamed the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, mainly the Law Minister Zahid Hamid for “deliberately” modifying the clauses to favor the minority sect.

Thousands of protesters under the banner of Tehrik Labbaik Ya Rasoolallah Pakistan (Movement to serve the Prophet of Allah) -- a conglomerate of different groups from the Sunni Barelvi school of thought -- have been staging a sit-in outside the capital Islamabad over the past week demanding resignation of the law minister.

The law minister however has turned down the demand for his resignation saying he firmly believed in the finality of Prophethood.

The sit-in has virtually disconnected the capital from the nearby Rawalpindi city -- which holds the international airport and railway station used by residents in Islamabad -- for the last one week.

The Islamabad High Court, earlier on Thursday, advised the protesters to disperse -- a call the protesting parties chose to ignore.

The government was negotiating with the leaders of protesting parties till the last reports came.