Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to seek assistance from religious institutions in the Mubarak Ahmad Sani case, and issued a notice to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).

The court also issued notices to Jamia Naima, Darul Uloom Karachi, Jamiat Al-Hadith, Quran Academy and Jamita-ul-Natzaar Lahore and sought opinions and reports on the matter within three weeks.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa heard the case. During the hearing, Jamaat-e-Islami lawyer Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui said that they have also filed a review petition in the case, to which the CJP replied “Your petition has been received but has not been read yet”.

Siddiqui added that they believe the court did not provide proper assistance in the case, and that the petitioner never requested to delete the provisions. Following these remarks, the court ordered the numbering of JI’s application and adjourned the hearing for three weeks. A similar bench during an earlier hearing admitted for hearing a review petition filed by the Punjab government in the case, and issued notices for further proceedings on February 26. The petition said that Article 20 of the Constitution was not fully explained in para 9 of the Mubarak Sani case judgment, therefore, a wrong impression had prevailed. It added that religious freedom was not unlimited under Article 20.

During the hearing, the chief justice remarked that when Article 20 was mentioned then there was no need for explanation. He told the Punjab government lawyer that the court would give the explanation. According to Article 20, he added, religious freedom was subjected to public order and morality.