ISLAMABAD: The lawmakers in National Assembly, on Tuesday, strongly protested against the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa’s ruling on a blasphemy related case, demanding him to immediately review his ruling as “to err is human”.
The house which met here with National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, witnessed heated debate on the verdict from the lawmakers belonging to all political parties as they said: there will be no compromise on blasphemy law.
However, the Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar called upon the MPs – both treasury and opposition – to go through the 28-page ruling – authored by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa – to discuss the issue threadbare and then form an opinion.
“Believing in the finality of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is part of the faith of every Muslim and the Supreme Court has already clarified its position on the matter,” he added.
He said that the Supreme Court and the high courts have the right to interpret the constitution, but they do not have the right to rewrite the constitution, adding “we need to seriously look into whether those issuing decrees against the top judge of the country is right or wrong.”
He categorically stated that anyone pointing finger on finality of prophethood will be dealt with iron hand, but no one has the right to issue a death decree against anyone by sitting home or somewhere from the crown.
“If someone is under attack today [...] it will be someone else’s turn tomorrow…so I would like to urge all the political parties to sit together as parliament is the biggest forum where everything will be decided according to Sharia, law and the constitution,” he added.
He maintained that the country would be run under what the constitution says whether someone likes it or not and no one would be allowed to take the law into his hand, adding the death decrees by individuals are simply not acceptable.
The NA speaker referred the matter to NA Standing Committee on Law and Justice, saying the lawmakers belonging to all the parties can participate in the meeting which will discuss the matter today (Wednesday).
“Let the law and justice committee discuss the matter as it’s a serious issue. Once the committee concludes its debate, we will discuss the matter in the house,” he added.
The law minister called upon the lawmakers to fully read the 28-page ruling authored by the chief justice before reaching any conclusion.
Omar Ayub, Ali Muhammad Khan, Sahibzada Hamid Raza of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Qadir Patel of PPP, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri JUI-F and others were unanimous in demanding Chief Justice Isa to review his ruling with regard to blasphemy law.
The controversy started after the top judge of the country ordered the release of a man from the Ahmadi community, prompting the headliner clerics to the lawmakers to launch a campaign against Justice Isa.
The man had been accused of disseminating a forbidden Ahmadi text, which the lawmakers too termed tantamount to blasphemy.
Supreme Court had already issued a statement defending his ruling, denying that it went against the constitution of Pakistan.
In his judgment, Justice Isa had ruled that according to the constitution, “every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion.”
“Freedom of faith is one of the fundamental tenets of Islam. But sadly, in matters of religion, tempers flare up and the Qur’anic mandate is forsaken,” he added.
He also said the book allegedly disseminated by the accused had not been outlawed at the time of the alleged crime in 2019.
The house was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 11am.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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