Peshawar (AsiaNews) – With a vote of 68 for and 34 against, the Provincial Assembly of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which is right on the Afghan border, passed the Hasba Act, a controversial law that creates the office of the muhtasib, a religious ombudsman whose functions is to make sure that people strictly follow Islamic rules.

Before the vote, a heated debated pitted the ruling Muttehida Majlas-e-Amal or MMA (a coalition of six Islamic parties) and the opposition Pakistan People Party, which organised strong protests outside the Provincial Assembly Building.

Pakistan's federal government also voiced its opposition and said that it would refer the matter to the country's Supreme Court in order determine the constitutionality of the Hasba Act and its effect on human rights.

NWFP Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman said the law was unconstitutional and warned that if the provincial government did not desist from implementing it, the federal government would use its constitutional powers to block it "by all means allowed by the constitution".

Under the Hasba Act, the Muhtasib would be given the power to ensure that the faithful adhered to prescribed practices of praying and did not engage in any commercial activity during Friday prayers.

The law would task the Muhtasib with making sure that unmarried men and women were not together in public places. It would also curb singing and dancing.

The ruling MMA claims that with this law it is only fulfilling a pledge it made to the people.

NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq said he "excluded any process of talibanisation" in the province, but hailed the law as a great victory, the first historic step towards applying Islamic law in accordance with democratic principles.

Ostensibly the purpose of the new law, which many see as another version of the Talibans' Department of Vice and Virtue in Afghanistan, is to eradicate corruption from the government and society.

According to Fr Bonnie Mendes, director of the Human Development Centre, through the Hasba Act, the MMA wants to place its own agents in key posts in every sector of society and highjack the judicial system in the NWFP first, and the whole country later. "Hopefully, the Supreme Court will stop this Bill would," he said.

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) also opposes the law on the grounds that it is unIslamic, unconstitutional and illegal, stressing that the Hasba Act is a not so subtle way to set a parallel judicial system, something that the constitution forbids.

On Wednesday, the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance demonstrated before the Provincial Assembly Building against the law—women and children chained themselves to highlight what would happen if such a law is implemented.