The Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Friday evening passed the Shariat Bill providing for application of Muslim Personal Law in the state to bring it at par with rest of the country.

The Bill was moved by senior National Conference leader and leader of Opposition in the house, Abdul Rahim Rather.

Speaking on the necessity of the Bill, Rather said, "The Bill aims at uniform application of Muslim Personal Law in the state as is prevalent in whole of the country to eliminate the duplicity created by the prevalence of customary laws in some areas of the state. All Muslims should be governed by Shariat law or Muslim Law as is applicable in the rest of the country."

Rather told the assembly the Bill shall establish the supremacy of Muslim Personal Law in the State and abolish customary law prevalent in some parts of the state.

Senior Peoples Democratic Party leader and Minister of State for Rural Development, Javed Mustafa Mir putting forth his viewpoint strongly supported the Bill saying that 'every Muslim must be governed by Shariat law and customs should not have any say where Shariat law exists'.