Govt ready to work with Opposition to amend NAB laws: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the National Assembly on Thursday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was ready to sit with Opposition parties to bring positive changes to laws related to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Responding to the points raised by Opposition members, he said the government was ready to sit with Opposition parties because it wanted continuity of the accountability process “without any victimisation”.

However, he said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) failed to bring any change in NAB laws during its five-year tenure. “It is unfortunate that the PML-N did not bring any change despite the cooperation of Opposition parties during its five-year tenure,” he added. Qureshi was responding to PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq, who said earlier that no negotiations were under way between the government and the Opposition to bring any amendments in NAB laws. He said the government did not respond to recommendations made by the Opposition four months ago.

Qureshi said the government wanted the process of accountability should continue in the country as the nation also wanted the same.The foreign minister further said Pakistan had positively engaged Iran to curb the cross-border movement of militants. “Pakistan has a long border of over 900 kilometres with Iran and Pakistan wants to keep it peaceful and stable.”

He said certain elements were trying to hurt the relationship between the two countries by creating misunderstandings but added these “sordid designs will be foiled through collective efforts”.

“I held meetings with the Iranian foreign minister [Javad Zarif] four times, twice in Islamabad, once in Tehran and once in Istanbul. During these meetings, we discussed the overall situation, border challenges, ways to maintain peace on the border and ways to manage it by agreeing to create a joint centre,” he said. All these efforts were being made to put in place a procedure to deal with any untoward situation, he added.

“We have cooperated with each other, and some steps have been taken. We are increasing some of our Frontier Corps regiments, we are building a headquarters in Turbat so that there is rapid response, our helicopter surveillance near the border has increased, and we have agreed on the formation of a joint border centre and border fencing,” he added.

About Punjab Local Government Act, he said PTI would give more powers and financial autonomy to the local governments to address the problems of the people at the grassroots level. He asked the PML-N to raise the issue in the Punjab Assembly regarding any reservation on the Local Government Act.

WORLD LONDON

‘Muslim communities must accept law of land over Sharia’

Ag PA

LONDON: A Conservative MP has said there needs to be “acceptance of the law of the land” from Muslim communities above that of Sharia law.

John Howell (Henley) told MPs in a Westminster Hall debate on Sharia law courts in the UK, that British law should take primacy. He added: “There needs to be acceptance of the law of the land as there is within other communities, and particularly within the Jewish community, where they do accept that British law overrides their own religious law.”

The Tory backbencher said he was “well aware that the charge of Islamophobia may be levelled against us for raising this subject” adding: “It is right that Sharia law courts or councils are looked at in terms of their conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights just as other aspects of UK society are.”

Howell said he accepted that Sharia councils offer a form of alternative dispute resolution, with around 90 per cent of their dealings in the UK looking at issues of divorce. He added: “They are certainly fulfilling a need in some Muslim communities. There is a demand for religious divorce and this is currently being answered by the Sharia councils.”

Labour MP Naz Shah (Bradford West) warned against “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”. She added: “The idea that is peddled in the right-wing media of Sharia courts replacing the British judiciary has no truth in it. The first law of Sharia is, the absolute tenet of it, is that the law of the land takes precedence.

“I really struggle with the idea that there needs to be acceptance of the law of the land. Muslims do accept the law of the land. The majority of Muslims in this country, as with any people of faith or non-faith, accept the law of this land.”

Shadow solicitor general Nick Thomas-Symonds said there is a problem of “misinformation” in this area, and said there is “clearly not” any plan to introduce a parallel legal system in the UK.

Thomas-Symonds said: “We have to be very wary of misinformation here, particularly in terms of this idea we see that Parliament is somehow introducing this parallel law, which is clearly not the case. I think it is incumbent on all of us to be making that clear and to be careful with the language that we use in this regard.”

Justice minister Edward Argar said there is a place for Sharia law but said that, where there are conflicts with UK law, the law of the land “must, and will, always prevail”.

Argar said: “I would like to set out the government’s position on Sharia law. As the Prime Minister has said, and as members have mentioned today, there is one rule of law in the United Kingdom and, in practice, that means that within each of the UK jurisdictions, a single system of law, legislated according to our constitutional arrangements, this parliament and the devolved administrations.”

Argar said there needed to be clarity, and urged MPs and the media to be careful with the language they use. He pointed out there is no “parallel system of Sharia law” in the UK.He said: “If there are any conflicts between religious practices and national law, national law must, and will, always prevail.”