Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, the special representative of the prime minister for interfaith harmony and the Middle East, stated on Monday that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) should evaluate the Transgender Rights Bill 2018.
In an exclusive interview with APP, Ashrafi, who is also the Chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, stated that all religious organisations had reservations about some provisions of this bill and that these reservations should be addressed by bringing the CII on board in accordance with the established mechanism.
He said that Senators Maulna Atta-ur-Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-e-Islami, and others had voiced their opposition to the measure.
He believed that the best approach to handle the situation was to send the aforementioned law to the CII, which would then present its recommendations to eliminate the Shariah-incompatible elements.
According to a statement from the CII Chairman, Dr. Qibla Ayaz, the bill in question was discussed at the council’s meeting on January 17, 2018, and following extensive consultations with the transgender community, the National Database and Registration Authority, civil societies, and legal and Shariah experts, it was determined that several provisions of the bill were both illegal and insufficient to protect the rights of the transgender community.
He bemoaned the fact that the flaws the council had pointed out in its recommendations had not been fixed prior to the bill’s passage.
He argued that it was crucial to enact such extensive legal changes, which take into account Shariah requirements, the Constitution, and the true issues facing the transgender population.
It was important to note that Senator Mushtaq Ahmed filed a petition in the Federal Shariat Court against the Transgender Rights Bill 2018 on the grounds that it violates Islamic heredity principles and would complicate Islamic heredity laws.
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