Fueling extremism
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has a knack for making controversial decisions and statements that can range from criticising the Army Chief on one end to declaring the celebration of Valentines Day illegal on the other. His latest ruling concerning amendments to the Khattam-i-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act 2017 makes it mandatory to declare ones “true faith” when he or she takes oath when joining the civil service, armed forces or the judiciary.
In his decision Siddiqui does make reference to the fact that the Constitution grants “complete religious freedom” but then conveniently moves on to Article 5 of the Constitution that demands citizens to remain “faithful” to the state and “abide by the rules of law and Constitution.” In doing so he interprets that if someone does not declare their “true faith” they are “betraying the state”. Not only is this a flawed conclusion to derive by cherry picking Articles in the Constitution it also violates the right to freedom of religion and tramples on individual liberties of citizens who should not and cannot be forced to make declarations about something as personal as their religion.
Going by this extreme logic that Siddiqui has used he is trying to say that someone’s faith is a valid credential of a candidate looking to join the civil service, army or judiciary. This does not augur well for religious minorities. As a result they remain secretive about their beliefs in order to survive in an increasingly extremist environment.
One only needs to take a look at the composition of Jinnah’s cabinet post partition to understand what this country was envisioned by him to become, a diverse people living in harmony, respecting each other’s beliefs. Sadly decisions like these and many before it have eroded the foundations of what Pakistan was built on.
The Supreme Court should review IHC’s decision and preferably offer a better more logical interpretation of the Constitution on this matter.
