Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Dr Babar Awan has said that Parliament is an institution which is entitled to do 'Ijtehad'. Speaking as chief guest at a lecture on 'Supreme Constitutional Code of Egypt and Islamic Law', at Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) here, he dwelled on Article 227 of the Constitution and said.
"We should respect the beliefs of other sects who have different beliefs other than ours." He said, "We should also respect the personal laws of the minorities." He said that the Constitution prevents accumulation of wealth in a few hands, and added: "We should pay all respect to the constitution as a model and there is a dire need to repose trust in this document". He stressed need for strengthening the Council of Islamic Ideology and Federal Shariat Court.
In his address of welcome, CII Chairman Dr Muhammad Khalid Masud introduced Professor Clark Lombardi of Washington University to the audience. He also briefly introduced the Council and said that it has published 72 reports which are still to be discussed in the Parliament.
He stressed the need of formation of a parliamentary committee to consider the Council's reports. Professor Clark Lombardi, who teaches constitutional, comparative, and development law, said that over the past 30 years in a number of Muslim countries, including most recently Afghanistan and Iraq, have adopted constitutions that require the law of the State to respect fundamental Islamic legal norms.
In doing so these countries face a lot of issues. The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt has, over the last 20 years, developed a creative new theory of Islamic law. The Court has interpreted Shariah's norms to be consistent with international human rights.
The experience of Egypt demonstrates that, in a world where Islamic norms are contested, a progressive court with judicial prestige and independence can develop and apply a theory that interprets Islamic legal norms to be consistent with democracy, international human rights and economic liberalism.
The audience fielded questions, which were answered comprehensively by Babar Awan. Responding to a question, he promised to play a role in presenting the recommendations of the Council before the National Assembly and especially the Senate and help remove all hurdles in this regard.