ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday condemned the “unfortunate” criticism leveled against the judgment ordering the release of a person accused of distributing allegedly banned religious literature.
Religious parties, social media users and banned Pakistani militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban recently took exception to the SC ruling, with the reaction coming nearly two weeks after the apex court ordered an appeal against the Lahore High Court verdict.
In a press release issued today, the Supreme Court said the misreporting of its verdict was creating “a lot of misunderstanding” and giving the impression that the court had rejected the Second Amendment (September 1974) to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims or to remove the relevant sections for crimes against religion in the country’s legal codes.
“This impression is completely wrong,” the SC said.
A press release from the Supreme Court said that even if the allegations in the first information report on the case were believed, they did not merit the application of the charged sections, but rather section 5 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1932, relating to the dissemination of content. prescribed documents.
In the press release, it was further stated that according to the above paragraph, a maximum sentence of imprisonment of six months can be imposed, of which the petitioner has already served one year and was thus released on bail in view of Islamic rulings, constitutional clauses and principles of law and justice .
“It is sad that in such cases emotions flare up and Islamic rulings are forgotten,” the apex court said, adding that the written verdict quoted relevant verses of the Koran.
He added that Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa had tried to ensure that the court’s interpretation of the law was consistent with Islamic sources of law as well as the country’s constitution. It stated that if anyone felt that there was a miscarriage of justice, then the options of legal redress were always present, which the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice would never stop anyone from doing.
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“Legal verdicts can be criticized with reason, but an organized campaign in the name of criticism without adopting the constitutional route of review is unfortunate,” the press release added.
Government to take strict action against elements inciting violence: Solangi
Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi earlier in the day warned of “stern state action” against those who use social media platforms to incite violence.
The statement came at a time when Pakistan witnessed social media platform X (formerly Twitter) service outages for the sixth consecutive day. While human rights and journalistic organizations have condemned the gagging, officials remain reluctant to provide any clarification on the situation.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Religious Harmony, Maulana Tahir Ashrafi Solangi said, “Some people are using social media platforms to incite violence. This activity is against the law and the government will take strict action against all such illegal activities in accordance with the law.”
In a similar vein, he said social media companies that make billions were not absolved of their platforms being used to “disrupt law and order or incite violence in the country”.
“Social media platforms … have been used for propaganda, lies, character assassination and harassment. The relevant companies will have to check this action. Pakistan will never allow these platforms to spread baseless, false and fabricated propaganda in the country.
He said that if the platforms mentioned above are not stopped, the state will take all the strict measures it can.
“When it comes to judicial decisions, legal review remedies are possible against them. If anyone has a grievance, a review application can be made … decisions have also been changed in the past, but no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands or disturb the peace of the country.”
Solangi said the spread of “lawlessness and anarchy” would not be allowed in the country. “All foreigners living in Pakistan must be assured that they are safe and that no one will be able to harm them. They should feel safe and secure. The state of Pakistan will guarantee their security and peace,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ashrafí asked the apex court to issue a clarification on the matter in case of any confusion or doubt and the Punjab government to file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s February 6 verdict so that “those who want to spread discord cannot do so”.
He said that no one would be allowed to disrupt law, order and peace or create conditions for discord in the country in the name of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
“To those who want to spread chaos or want to politicize this matter, I want to say that this is a legal matter … and the legal aspects of it will be decided by the courts, not the streets.”
Ashrafí said that politicking in the name of the Holy Prophet is “the greatest crime”.
“As for the rights of non-Muslims living in the country, we will not allow anyone to deduct from what has been decided by the law and the constitution or any injustice. They are citizens and I as a Muslim have rights, similarly non-Muslims have rights as citizens. Protecting both of our rights is essential.”
