Bigotry towards minorities defames Pakistan: SC on Lahore HC's blasphemy order
Mar 27, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 27 : Pakistan Supreme Court observed that the bigoted behaviour towards minorities has given the wrong impression of Pakistan, labelled the people of Pakistan as intolerant, dogmatic and rigid as it overturned a Lahore High Court order, which had endorsed the charges of blasphemy against members of the Ahmadiyya community.
They were charged on the allegation that they had designed their place of worship and displayed Islamic symbols on Ahmadi place of worship's inner walls, The Express Tribune reported.
"To deprive a non-Muslim (minority) of our country of holding his religious beliefs, to obstruct him from professing and practising his religion within the four walls of his place of worship is against the grain of our democratic Constitution and repugnant to the spirit and character of our Islamic Republic," read the nine-page judgment, authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
Justice Shah was heading a division bench, hearing a petition against the offence of blasphemy on Ahmadi individuals.
It further alleged that the electricity bill of the Ahmadi place of worship was mentioned as 'mosque'.
In 1984, under the rule of former President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the Pakistani government made it a criminal offence, punishable by three years imprisonment and a fine, for the Ahmadis to call their place of worship a 'Mosque' and make the call for prayers (Azan).
On the basis of the above amendment, these allegations were filed and the petitioners were put on trial.
The Lahore High Court also included the blasphemy charges against the petitioners along with other cases.
The Pakistan top court noted that even though Article 260(3) of the constitution declared Ahmadis as Non-Muslim, they are still the party of citizens and their basic rights cannot be taken away, according to The Express Tribune.
"There is no allegation in the crime report that attracts the said offence. The courts below have held that the mere reading of the Kalima or the Holy Quran by a non-Muslim/Ahmadi attracts Section 295-C. This, in our view, is not only far-fetched but also fails to meet the fundamental constituents of the crime, that is the men's rea and actus reus. Only that which resides in the mind of a non-Muslim while reading the Holy Quran is not sufficient to constitute the offence," the nine-page judgment reads.
