Lawmakers discuss bill aimed at combating extremism at educational institutions

A day earlier on Wednesday, lawmakers and government officials took part in a consultation over a bill aimed at combatting extremism in higher education institutions in the province.

Members of the Sindh Assembly belonging to various political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party, PTI, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Grand Democratic Alliance, attended the consultation arranged by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO), a civil society group.

Pir Mujeeb-ul-Haq, Mangla Sharma, Qasim Soomro, Ali Khurshid, Ghazala Sial, Muhammad Abbas Jafari, Rana Ansar, Naeem Rajpar, Nusrat Sahar Abbasi, Sadaqat Hussain, Dr Sanjay Ganjwani, and Shahana Asher were prominent among the lawmakers who attended the consultation.

Syed Kausar Abbas, the SSDO executive director, said the bill was aimed at bringing peace to society. “Under the bill, centres will be set up in schools, colleges, and universities to combat violent extremism. Each university will have its own board that will work on social reconciliation. This bill has been prepared under the National Action Plan,” he added.

“A meeting of the board will be held every three months and if the board so desires, it can invite someone to attend the meeting exclusively,” he stated. Abbas said that the bill had been introduced at the federal level and it had been approved in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and hence it was important for Sindh to approve it as well. The bill could be easily passed if the ministers and parliamentarians worked together, he remarked. The SSDO head also said that his organisation was working to introduce another bill to ensure law and order at the tehsil level.