The Home Department has referred 30 books containing hate material to the Punjab Mutahidda Ulema Board (PMUB). The board will meet on September 20 to decide whether to ban the books, an Auqaf Department official told Daily Times on Sunday.The official said Auqaf minister Saeedul Hassan would chair the PMUB meeting. He said most books among the 30 had already been banned by PMUB and the Home Department, but had reappeared under different names. “ Sixty-one books have so far been banned on PMUB’s recommendations,” he added.
The PMUB was formed during the Nawaz Sharif government and its first meeting was presided over by then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, the Auqaf official said. He said the board had two members each of the Shia, Barelvi, Deobandi and Ahle Hadith sects and the representatives of Auqaf Department and Home Department. He said the board’s purpose was to promote sectarian harmony, especially between the Shia and Sunni sects. He said the present board members were selected two years ago. “It will be the first meeting after President Pervez Musharrf came to power,” the official added.
A Home Department official said numerous books containing hateful material had already been banned by the department, but the books containing less hateful material had been referred to PMUB.
Afzal Haidri, a PMUB member, said he had been told about the meeting and had also received the list of the 30 books. “The books include dailies and weekly and monthly magazines and the are from all major sects,” he added.