ISLAMABAD: Advocate Akram Shaikh maintained on Friday that a constitutional court was authorised to direct the government to legislate against those non-Muslims who purposely pretend to appear Muslim on their identification documents
He made this observations at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) during the hearing of a petition seeking identification of government, semi-government and private employees who were allegedly non-Muslims but were stating Islam as their religion in identity documents.
In his remarks, IHC’s Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui reiterated that more than 10,000 people had changed their religious status from Muslim to Ahmadi in their CNICs after their retirement from government service. He said a majority of these people had shown themselves as Muslims so that they could get a job but later changed their official religious status after retirement.
Citing a government report, he said about 6,000 of these personnel had left the country after having their CNICs modified. The government officials had been directed to produce travel history of these personnel, he said.
Advocate Shaikh then said, “Ahmadis can’t be allowed to exercise Islamic rituals,” he said, adding that it could hurt religious sentiments of Muslims.
Shaikh said that Islam and the Constitution of Pakistan had ensured the provision of rights to minorities. A separate religious identity of Ahmadis was for the safety of their religious rights as a minority, he said, suggesting that the submission of an affidavit on Khatm-i-Naboowat (finality of Prophethood) should be made mandatory for issuance of a CNIC.
“Strict action should be taken against [those] Ahmadis who change their religious status from Muslim to Ahmadi,” he said.
The IHC has been hearing the case on a petition filed by one Maulana Allah Wasaya.
Earlier, the court had directed the Federal Investigation Agency to submit the travel history of all those who had changed their religious status on CNICs.
The directive came as Nadra submitted a report to the court, stating that 10,205 people changed their religious status from Muslim to Ahmadi.
In an earlier hearing, the director general of Nadra had submitted that a court’s permission had now been made mandatory if someone wanted to change their religious status on the CNIC.
Published in Daily Times, March 3rd 2018.
