Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah stopped the police from registering ‘blasphemy’ cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Thursday.
The case hearing has been postponed for two weeks, with the attorney general summoning the next hearing.
IHC CJ Athar Minallah stated that it is the responsibility of the political leadership to promote social harmony.
“While religious sentiments are important, the state also bears some responsibility.” “We have seen how religion has been used in the past, and it is the Constitution that has united people,” CJ said.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah stated that he saw the FIR and that it should not have been filed in the first place, and that most cases filed in Pakistan are incorrect.
According to the IHC CJ, “using religion for political purposes is tantamount to contempt for oneself and a serious violation of human rights.”
CJ stated that if society does not practice tolerance and forgiveness, things will go wrong.
“What happened in Madinah city was absolutely not the right thing,” IHC CJ said, “but it happened there.”
The top judge of the Islamabad High Court stated that there should be some policy guidelines and that religion should not be used for political purposes.
Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary testified before the IHC, expressing surprise at the filing of such cases.
“We have full commitment,” Fawad Chaudhary stated. We are not going to play religious cards against each other. The government should also refrain from using religious cards.”
Fawad stated that he had witnessed martial laws and other forms of discrimination in the past, but that no case of contempt of religion had ever been filed.
He stated that he has close ties with the Law Minister, but that his statements surprised him. “This trend that has begun will have dangerous consequences,” Fawad added.
Fawad Chaudhary filed an IHC petition last week opposing the filing of such cases. The Federation of Pakistan was named as a respondent in the case, along with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, the director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the police chiefs of Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan.
