A deletion opposed

When Minoo Bhandara, a treasury bench member of the Pakistan National Assembly, tried to introduce a bill demanding the removal of the phrase "ideology of Pakistan” from the country’s statute book, the treasury and opposition benches joined hands to oppose it. The report on India eNews.com dated September 14, 2006 quoting The Nation newspaper notes that the Speaker of the Assembly, Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, disallowed the bill’s introduction when he sensed opposition to it from both sides of the house.

Bhandara, who is said to own the country’s only private brewery, contended that every word in a written constitution must be defined. He held that since the term "ideology of Pakistan” had not been defined there was cause for confusion and therefore the house should debate and define it. Riaz Hussain Pirzada was the lone member from the treasury benches who held that such a debate would be "a refresher of the history for the new generation to know and understand.”

However, government and opposition members who vehemently opposed the bill held that the "ideology of Pakistan” meant the creation of the country in the name of Islam. Parliamentary affairs minister Sher Afgan Niazi was quoted as saying that such a debate "would not only create confusion but would also challenge the basis of the creation of Pakistan.”