LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday rejected the policy statements of the caretaker Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Punjab on implementation of a 2019 verdict of the court requiring action against people involved in publication of unauthentic copies of the Holy Quran and directed them to appear before the court in person on December 18.
In a written order of October 16 hearing, the court observed that it was abundantly clear that though the federal as well as provincial government decided to form a committee for implementation of the judgment but neither composition of the committee had been detailed nor its Terms of Reference (ToRs) had been formed.
“Hence, the stance taken by the federal as well as provincial government is ambiguous,” the court said.
The court noted that according to the policy statements of both governments, the proposed committee has to submit a report fortnightly to the attorney general of Pakistan as well as the advocate general Punjab, but it was not clear as to who would submit a monthly compliance report to the court.
The court ruled that the reports submitted by the law officers cannot be considered as policy statements on behalf of the federal as well as provincial government, so the personal presence of the caretaker Prime Minister and the Chief Minister was inevitable.
The court observed that the federal and the provincial governments would be at liberty to take concrete measures for implementation of the judgment. In the order passed in 2019, the court had ordered the government to ensure the copies of Holy Quran were duly approved by the Quran Board before the publication in press and on the internet.
The court also directed the Quran Board and the government to keep a vigilant eye on publication and printing of any religious material, in particular the Holy Quran, against the original text or authentic meaning.
On October 16, the court was told PM Anwarul Haq Kakar was on an official visit to China and Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi was in Islamabad. The petitioner Hassan Muawayah alleged that the Ahmadi community and other non-Muslims continued to publish and upload copies of the Holy Quran with distorted Arabic text and mutilated translation on the internet and Google play store only to mislead the Muslims.
The petitioner said that repeated applications had been filed with the home department and police authorities for action against the suspects in the light of the court verdict.
He, however, said the conduct of the respondent authorities was in violation of the law and the court’s decision.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023