Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday summoned the attorney general of Pakistan over non-registration of case against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inviting Islamic State (IS) to carry out operations in Pakistan.

The court while issuing notices to ministries of interior and defence, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman and Abpara police station directed the AGP to appear before the court in person on May 18.

Petitioner Jibran Nasir had approached the IHC requesting it to set aside an order of the district court and direct the respondents to register an FIR against Aziz, his wife, and students of Jamia Hafsa for pledging allegiance to the IS.

On March 7, Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Asif Mehmood dismissed his application, observing that the complainant lacked legal standing for registration of the FIR.

A single bench of the IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani took up the petition filed by Gibran wherein he had sought court’s intervention for registration of the FIR.

In the petition, Nasir contended that students of Jamia Hafsa released a video on the social media wherein the students invited IS to come to Pakistan to take revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Lal Masjid operation.

He maintained that Abdul Aziz had also supported the stance of his students and in another video message he invited the IS group to Pakistan to avenge the deaths of Osama bin Laden and those killed in the 2007 Lal Masjid operation.

The video message released by Jamia Hafsa students was termed as ‘waging of war’ against the state in a 2015 Islamabad police report sent to the interior ministry.

The petitioner also mentioned that Aziz’s name is on the list of proscribed persons in the 4th Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, adding Aziz, his wife, and students of Jamia Hafsa had earlier taken up arms against the state which resulted in the Lal Masjid operation of 2007.

He further stated that a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation called ‘Ansarul Islam’ joined IS in 2014 and “now runs a militant camp in Syria named after Maulana Abdul Aziz’s brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who was killed in the Operation Silence generally known as Lal Masjid operation in 2007”.

He added that the allegiance towards IS, propagating and supporting its agenda and calling them for revenge clearly constituted cognizable offences of serious nature that threaten the national security as well as peace and order in the society.

Despite all this, he said, the respondents failed to take any action against Aziz and others. He prayed the court to direct the respondents to register a case against Aziz, his wife, and students of Jamia Hafsa under relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, Protection of Pakistan Act, 2014 and the Pakistan Penal Code in light of the facts reported in the petition.

He has made Islamabad’s justice of peace, ministry of interior, inspector general of police, SSP and the SHO Aabpara police station respondents.