ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of the reconstituted Parliamentary Committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversion on Friday witnessed serious exchange of arguments between Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and Religious Aff airs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri over the ownership of the bill against forced conversion of religion.

National Minorities Commission Chairman Chela Ram and its members also attended the meeting.

The meeting witnessed serious arguments among the members with Dr Ramesh Vankwani demanding the committee chair-man to set a timeline for finalisation of the draf t bill against forced conversion.

`We all have spent around one and a half years to get the record straight and find the root causes of forced conversions, mostly in Sindh,` Dr Vankwani said, adding it would be unfair with the parliamentarians as well as members of the minorities community to restart the whole process again.

Chela Ram claimed that most of the cases of forced conversions had links with Mian Mithu and Pir Sarhandi and it was essential that the state should ensure protection to its citizens and their f aith.

`The main issue is that girls as young as 12 are kidnapped and married,` Mr Ram asked.

The 22-member committee chaired by Senator Liaquat Khan Tarakai consists of seven senators, 12 MNAs and three ministers.

Some of the members demanded that the draf t bill against forced conversion be shared with the committee.However, Dr Mazari resisted the suggestion, claiming the draft bill had been approved by the previous committee to Protect Minorities from Forced Conversion.

She said the draft would be presented to the federal cabinet for approval, on which the religious af fairs minister said the subject was related to his ministry, but the draft had not been shared with them.

Dr Mazari maintained that the subject came in the domain of human rights ministry and they had already finalised the bill.

Finally, Lal Chand Malhi and minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Mohammad Khan suggested that the Ministry of Human Rights would forward the draf t bill to the Ministry of Religious Affairs for vetting within a month and they would present it in the committee for approval. It was decided that the human rights ministry will present the draft to the federal cabinet after its approval from the committee, within next two months.