ISLAMABAD   -   The Senate on Monday passed a law aimed at increasing punishment of up to life imprison­ment but not less than 10 years for those dis­respecting Ummahatul Momineen, Ahl-e-Bait, Khulfa-e-Rashideen and Sahaba-e-Kiram.

The house passed the Criminal Laws (Amend­ment) Bill that seeks to amend the Pakistan Pe­nal Code (PPC), 1860 and the Code of Crimi­nal Procedure (CrPC), 1898. 

PML-N Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim and Ja­maat-e-Islami (JI) law­maker Mushtaq Ahmed moved the bill on a pri­vate members day. The National Assembly has already passed the bill, which was moved by JI MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali.

Explaining the amendment in the bill, Senator Ahmed said that fine and sentence had been increased to ensure no one dared1898. PML-N Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim and Ja­maat-e-Islami (JI) lawmak­er Mushtaq Ahmed moved the bill on a private mem­bers day. The National As­sembly has already passed the bill, which was moved by JI MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali. Explaining the amendment in the bill, Senator Ahmed said that fine and sentence had been increased to ensure no one dared to pass any derogato­ry remarks and defame com­panions, family and wives of Last Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

He said that under PPC, the punishment was for three years but it has been increased now and accord­ingly, an amendment is pro­posed in CrPC. The state­ment of objectives and reasons of the bill says that disrespecting the compan­ions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and other sacred personalities not only pro­moted terrorism and dis­ruption in the country but also hurt people from all walks of life.

The bill says that in Sec­tion 298-A of the PPC, the punishment against the per­son who disrespected the wives, family and compan­ions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was imprisonment for a minimum of three years along with a nomi­nal penalty while this is a bailable crime. The bill en­hances the minimum pun­ishment for those who in­sult the sacred personalities from three to life imprison­ment, which shall not be less than 10 years.

Some members from trea­sury including Minister for Climate Change Sherry Reh­man, wanted the bill to be referred to the standing committee concerned. Sen­ator Rehman said that they had not yet gone through the bill and it should be referred to as there was consensus in the house that legislation should not be done in haste. Some senators with religious backgrounds including Mau­lana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Hafiz Abdul Karim and Pro­fessor Sajid Mir hoped the bill would help sectarian harmony in the country. 

On a private members day, the house referred over a dozen bills regarding the creation of new universi­ties and institutes, already passed by the National As­sembly, to the house com­mittees concerned.

PTI Senator Mehr Taj Roghani objected to the in­troduction of a large num­ber of bills for the establish­ment of private universities at a time when three days have left in the expiry of the term of the present govern­ment. “This bombardment of universities would ruin the education system in the country,” she said. 

National Party Senator Ta­hir Bizenjo said one won­dered why members of the National Assembly were in­terested that the bills of private universities sailed through the house.

As the house lacked the required two-third major­ity to pass a constitutional amendment bill, the chair referred back two bills, one on creation of Hazara province and the other on creation of South Punjab province, to the standing committee concerned.

The house unanimously adopted a resolution, moved by JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza to condemn ille­gal August 5 actions of In­dia taken in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The resolution la­belled the 5th August 2019, as a “Black Day.”

The resolution said that the BJP-led government ab­rogated Articles 35-A and 370 of India’s Constitution by taking away the autono­my of Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two Union territories.

“The House rejects India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 which are in direct violation of UNSC Resolutions and are aimed at … suppressing the realiza­tion of the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiris as well as violat­ing their civil, political, eco­nomic, social, and cultural rights,” reads the resolution. 

The house through the resolution called upon the international community to support the freedom strug­gle of the people of Indi­an Occupied Kashmir both morally, legally, and mate­rially as the internation­al community supported Ukraine morally and mate­rially in the current Russian Ukraine war.

The house recommended that the government should expedite its diplomatic ef­forts to continuously high­light the Kashmir issue at the UN Human Rights Coun­cil, including through peri­odical brief and joint letters to the President.