Quran Board on the cards

Senate panel adopts bill to ensure error-free printing

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony on Monday unanimously adopted the Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

The bill will ensure disposal of rotten sacred papers and copies of the Holy Quran in a proper manner as well as to stop the publication of the Holy Quran on sub-standard paper.

The Quran Board, to be established as per the bill, will supervise the work of error-free printing, publication and recording of the Holy Quran, including its uploading on the internet.

The bill also disallows the Arabic text of the Holy Quran to be printed in newspapers, panaflexes, cards, bills, brochures or any other such disposable forms, and only its translation shall be printed in such forms where required.

The committee stressed that laws related to the sanctity of the Holy Quran should be strictly implemented. It also directed the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to ensure enforcement of laws.

The CII director general briefed the committee that all laws for the safety and reverence of the Holy Quran and its verses were being implemented and had due punishment, including penalty and imprisonment. He also informed that the Quran Board would be constituted after drafting the Quran Board Act.

The bill would become a guideline to amend laws at provincial levels, he added.