ECP bound to hold elections through EVMs: Farogh Naseem

ISLAMABAD: The government, while amending the criminal law, removed the clause of chemical castration of serial rapists after objections by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which declared it as un-Islamic

Prime Minister Imran Khan had last year called for chemical castration of rapists after a woman was raped in front of her children on the Lahore-Multan Motorway. Addressing a press conference along with Farogh Naseem, Federal Minister for Law, Maleeka Bukhari, Secretary for Law and Justice, said the government had removed the clause of chemical castration from the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2021, before Wednesday's joint sitting. She said that the decision to drop chemical castration was taken after the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) objected to the legislation, terming it as un-Islamic and against the Shariah. According to the Constitution, no law could be enacted that goes against the teachings of the Holy Quran and Shariah, Maleeka Bukhari said adding the government has passed historic laws despite delaying tactics used by the opposition. She further said that after the passage of Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Bill, 2021, special courts would be established to expedite the rape cases. Similarly, she said that an investigation cell will be set up in every district wherein trained investigators will be made a part of the investigating team, she added.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Law Farogh Naseem said that the Election Commission of Pakistan will be bound to conduct elections through Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) after the law pertaining to electoral reforms was passed.

He said that the EVM system is better than the old manual voting system as complaints of stamping on wrong side are regularly received. However, he said that they could not claim 100 percent result from the EVM, but it was better than the old system. The law minister said the government in the joint session of Parliament approved 34 public interest bills while the opposition tried its best to make the legislation controversial. Rejecting their objections, the law minister said that if legislating during the joint session was undemocratic and unparliamentary, then it should be removed from the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

Referring to the bill about Kulbhushan Yadev, the law minister said that those opposing the bill either did not understand it or if they are opposing it deliberately, they were country’s enemies. “We inherited the issue from the previous govt,” the law minister said adding Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government refused counselor access to Yadev, after which India approached the International Court of the Justice. He said Pakistan defended Yadev's case well in the International Court of Justice, which though rejected the spy's plea of acquittal, but accepted their plea for counselor access.