In a development that was missed by most political pundits and observers of the Pakistani political landscape alike, after the passage of the Elections Bill 2017 today, it has come to light that an important piece of the Pakistani constitution has been removed as well.
In the above tweet, Khatam-e-Nabuwat refers to the part of the oath that public representatives (such as the Prime Minister) are supposed to take that invoke the finality of the Holy Prophet as the last Messenger of God. It is a tenet of Islamic faith that is also enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. Until now that is.
Reportedly, the recent Elections Bill 2017 was formulated by the ruling party PML-N in order to give ex-PM Nawaz Sharif a chance to be re-elected as the party’s Chairman again, after his disqualification a few months back by the Supreme Court over corruption charges.
After the passage of the Bill in parliament and Senate, the way has been cleared for ex-PM Nawaz to once again call the shots as party Chairman. And now after the full text of the Election Bill 2017 has become publicly available, many Pakistanis over social media are infuriated and angered over the exclusion of the Khatam-e-Nabuwat part from the nomination papers of politicians.
Thousands of people are tweeting against the amendment and it has already become one of the top trends on Twitter and Facebook.
Here are some of the reactions from Pakistani social media users over the bill:
Public now wants to come out on the roads following the amendment.
People are just too angry…
