The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan’s appellate Shariat bench on Wednesday set aside the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) 2012 ruling that declared teaching of Arabic language mandatory for schools across Pakistan, a private media outlet reported.
The case was decided by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam which was hearing the Punjab government’s appeal against FSC’s verdict earlier which set aside and declared ineffective by the court.
The court maintained that that FSC has no jurisdiction to pass such a judgment.
The Punjab government was represented by Additional Advocate General Qasim Chohan.
In 2010, the respondent Dr Zahoor Ahmad Azhar wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of FSC which was converted and registered into a Shariat application. It sought the direction of the FSC in regards to issue a mandamus against the government to make arrangements for the compulsory teaching of Arabic language in schools.
However, the Punjab government petitioned an appeal against the decision on the grounds that the judgment passed by FSC in 2012 is against the constitutional provisions and not sustainable in law.
