IHC orders govt make Raja Zafar ul Haq committee's report public

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday ordered the Federal Government to make the Raja Zafarul Haq Committee's report pertaining to the amendment in law related to lawmakers’ oath regarding Khatam e Nabuawat (Finality of Prophethood) public.

IHC's Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who conducted hearing of the case, issued a 172-page detailed judgment that was reserved in March this year.

The case pertains to the changes in the oath that lawmakers take regarding the Finality of Prophethood. The wording of the oath was 'mistakenly' altered, and then corrected, when the Elections Act 2017 was passed last year.

Key findings of the probe committee report have been made part of the IHC judgment.

The government had earlier submitted the report to the IHC that was prepared by the three-member committee headed by the then Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq. The report had been kept confidential.

The committee was formed to fix responsibility for the changes in the oath. Besides Raja Zafarul Haq, it included former ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Mushahidullah Khan.

Late last year, a religious party staged a sit-in for around three weeks against the amendment and ended its protest after an agreement was reached with the government, which included the resignation of then Law Minister Zahid Hamid.

During the protest, Justice Siddiqui had started proceedings over the issue of the controversial amendment as well as the agreement reached between the two sides.