Saying No to the Hasba Bill

Quite recently the right-wing religious government of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) have tried to implement a bill, known as Hasba Bill. They say that it is a try to "islamize" the province.

The bill is very clearly against the freedom and civil liberties. The bill grants special power to the Omudsman to keep an eye on the people and institutions and ensure that everything is going in accordance with the rules and regulations of Islam. This ombudsman is also incharge of the Hasba Police to allow him to perform his duties in an efficient manner. The Hasba police may enter the houses of people to "check" if they are working in accordance with the injunctions set forth by the religion.

Lets see how "representative" is the right-wing Muthida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in NWFP. MMA got 48% votes in the previous elections that had a voting turnout ration of somewhere around 20%. That way MMA only represents only 9-10% of the population of the province. Also, around 52% of the votes were coasted AGAINST the MMA. That shows us how "representative" the government of NWFP really is. That also shows one major flaw in the legal system of Pakistan where unrepresentative party is allowed to form the government.

Furthermore, even representative governments can sometimes be wrong. That is one important lesson that history teaches us.

The progressives of Pakistan are in strong opposition to the bill. They want that the bill to defeated on popular basis, not by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. This bill exposes the mentality of the right-wing government of NWFP that want to implement the Taliban system of government in Pakistan. This is unacceptable.

Down with Hasba Bill
Down with MMA
Long Live the people's liberty