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Govt to amend Election Bill 2017 to bring back Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath

October 04, 2017

ISLAMABAD, Oct 04 (INP): National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday said that the government will revert back to the original Khatm-e-Nabuwwat clause that had mistakenly been omitted in the recently passed Election Bill 2017. Talking to media after meeting parliamentary leaders, the Speaker accepted that a ‘clerical or technical mistake’ was made in Khatm-i-Nabuwwat clause which would be restored in its original form. He assured to keep the original clause for which the amendment would be carried out on Thursday. “We will amend the bill and replace the clauses related to nomination papers in the original form,” the speaker said. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi also demanded to bring clause 203 in its original form. On the other hand, Chief of Awami Muslim League (AML) Sheikh Rashid challenged Elections Act 2017 in Supreme Court (SC), stating that the Constitution has been distorted to safe one person. Earlier, Law Minister Zaid Hamid had dismissed rumors pertaining to controversy about Finality of Prophet-hood (Khatam-e-Nabuwat) which was created by Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed during passage of the Election Bill 2017. He said the government cannot even think of deleting this provision. In the new form-A, the words “I solemnly swear” have been replaced with “I believe” and the clause relating to Khatm-i-Nabuwwat has not been made applicable to non-Muslim candidates. INP/LK/AJ