Sir: Government of Pakistan must create a law that makes it a crime to issue a fatwa (Islamic edict) of any kind by any alim. If they cannot do that, they must at least create a law that criminalises the instigation of violence, whether verbal or written, against any person, animal or property by any individual. Since we have the Federal Shariat Court, sundry mullahs should not be allowed to issue fatwas. Moreover, people, including those in government, need to be educated on the fact that the concept of a binding fatwa has no official religious sanction in Islam. Within Islamic civilisation of the past, the concept of fatwa originated and evolved as the personal, non-binding, legal opinion of learned Muslim jurists. Therefore, it was completely up to the individual (or even the Khalifa) to accept or reject that opinion. There was no religious requirement or compulsion to follow it. Only the Khalifa could issue binding decrees but those were not fatwas and thus had no religious pretences. In Pakistan, even the Federal Shariat Court, while allowed to issue fatwas, must be disallowed from issuing binding fatwas. Those have no official sanction in Islam; they are in fact un-Islamic. Pakistan could become a much better place to live in if these key nuances of Islamic legal traditions were properly understood, disseminated and implemented. NAVEED LOTIA Toronto, Canada