ISLAMABAD: After the Religious Affairs Ministry resorted to deprive the female officers from enjoying equal rights in their career opportunities, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday immediately stayed the process of appointment of director general Hajj.

In a glaring example of depriving equal career opportunities to female officers, the Religious Affairs Ministry headed by Mufti Abdul Shakoor of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), according to Saima Saba, a grade 20 officer – who is a petitioner in the case – was dropped after she cleared both the test and the interview with flying colours just for being a female.

In her appeal, she contended that she was one of the two candidates who had passed the test for the said position among the 48 contestants, adding she had scored 71 out of 100 marks.

She also said that she had also done wonderful both in the interview, as well as, the test, adding despite all this she was dropped just because she was a female officer.

She requested the court to see the record of her test and interview and declare the single bench’s decision null and void, saying stopping the appointment process on the basis of gender was a “violation of the rights as mentioned in the Constitution”.

This is pertinent to mention that her appeal was earlier rejected by a single-judge bench of Justice Babar Sattar, terming her application inadmissible.

However, a division bench of IHC led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq has now directed the Religious Affairs Ministry to immediately stop the process of appointment of the DG Hajj.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022