NA body takes suo motu notice of Trust Bill

ISLAMABAD, The National Assembly Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony on Wednesday took suo motu notice of the recently passed Trust Bill and sought briefing from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony over the Bill.

Chaired by Asad Mahmood, the Committee expressed its concerns regarding the Islamabad Territory Trust Act, 2020, which has been got passed by the government because some of the sections of the Bill had non-conformity with the injunction of the Quran and Sunnah.

The Committee declared that whenever someone declares his property as trust, the property comes under the ownership of Allah Almighty. Hence, no Deputy Commissioner or any other officer is authorized to change the ownership of that property. The Standing Committee was of the opinion that during the British rule in 1923, both Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal struggled for the protection of rights of Muslims and the Trust properties.

According to the Committee, even Trust Act 1860 protects the rights of Muslims, however, the recent change in the law needs to be looked into once again. It has been decided to seek guidance from Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).

The Committee was informed that Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has completed the arrangements for Hajj, 2021. However, they did not receive any information from Saudi Arabia. Therefore, any comment in this regard, would be premature. The Committee was informed that recommendation have been finalized for Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to establish a recycling plant to protect the sanctity of the Holy Pages, but nothing could be done so far.

The Committee unanimously decided to establish the recycling plant and directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony and the Pak-PWD to fulfill their responsibilities in this regard.

The Committee directed to complete the PC-II and PC-I of the recycling plant and submit it by first week of July, besides allocating the cost of the project in the ensuing budget for the fiscal year 2021-22.

The Committee was apprised that the Saudi government did not communicate about the allocation of Hajj Quota yet.

The meeting was attended by Members National Assembly; Saleem Rehman, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Prince Muhammad Nawaz Allai, Mujahid Ali, Raja Riaz Ahmed, Chaudhary Javed Iqbal Warraich, Jamshed Thomas, Parliamentary Secretary for Interfaith Harmony Ms. Shunila Ruth, Chaudhary Faqir Ahmed, Begum Tahira Bokhari, Syed Imran Ahmed Shah, Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das, Mahar Irshad Ahmed Khan, Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah Jilani, Ms. Shagufta Jumani and Ms. Shahida Akhtar Ali. Aftab Jehangir, Parliamentary Secretary for Religious Affairs, Secretary, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony and other senior officers attended the meeting.