Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Muneebur Rehman. PHOTO: FILE
The meeting, chaired by Maulana Asad Mehmood, expressed its indignation and dismay over the remarks of Mufti Muneeb gone viral on social media.
Pakistan Peoples Party MNA and member of the committee Shugafta Jumani strongly condemned Mufti Muneeb's remarks and demanded strict action against him.
Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sahibzada Noorul Haq Qadri said the concerns of the members of the committee would be conveyed to Mufti Rehman.
The committee also resented the performance of Pak-PWD and stressed to bring improvements.
It was informed that three projects of the Ministry of Religious Affairs were being executed by Pak-PWD but none of the projects, including the project of Hajj Complex, Quetta which was started in 2004, could be completed. The committee directed to submit a comprehensive report in this regard so that appropriate action could be taken against the responsible.
The committee discussed the Hajj arrangements 2019 and over all, showed its satisfaction on the arrangements. The Committee has appointed a sub-committee to examine the Hajj arrangements and propose suggestions to further improve arrangements for the next Hajj.
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The committee sought details of hardship quota distributed during Hajj 2019 as well as details about the distribution of 2,000 hujjaj quota to some parliamentarians.
A sub-committee was constituted to probe the complaints of Hujjaj regarding food, transport and residence in Saudi Arabia. Shagufta Jumani, MNA would be the convener of the sub-committee, whereas, Members National Assembly Chaudhary Faqeer Ahmed, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Saleem Rehman would be the members.
The committee expressed concern over non-constitution of the Hajj Advisory Committee for supervising Hajj.
Briefing the committee, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Secretary Mushtaq Borana said the ministry had conducted four balloting this year. “Most of the issues normally crop up during the last five days of Hajj.”
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Last year, 90,000 Hujjaj were provided residence in Markazia and this year 112,000 were provided residence facility in Markazia out of 123,000 government scheme pilgrims.
The ministry has returned Rs68,000 to Rs25,000 to each government scheme pilgrim.
Shugafta Jumani asked the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to resume the past practice of sending a special National Assembly committee to Saudi Arabia during the holy month of Rabiul Awwal.
MNA Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das expressed concern over the constitution of ETPB Board of Directors and demanded making the procedure more transparent and merit-oriented.
He urged increase in the representation of Christians in the ETPB BoD.
He said, “More than 35 Hindu girls have been forcefully converted to Islam in the last six months.”
To this, Maulana Asad Mehmood replied, “Islam does not allow forceful conversion.”
The committee examined two bills regarding forced religion conversion. The first bill was moved by MNA Naveed Aamir Jeeva whereas the second bill was moved by MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani. The committee referred the bills to the Council of Islamic Ideology for its expert opinion with respect to "Shariah Injunctions".
MNA Jamshed Thomas asked the ministry to increase minority fund and amount for minority welfare projects.
With additional input from APP
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