Senior lawyer and expert on law affairs Akram Shaikh on Friday told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that a constitutional court has the authority to direct the government to legislate against those non-Muslims who purposely pretend to appear Muslim on paper when they are not, DawnNewsTV reported.
He was assisting the court during Friday’s hearing of a petition filed by Maulana Allah Wasaya on the identification of alleged non-Muslims in government, semi-government and autonomous organisations who identify themselves as Muslims.
In his remarks, IHC’s Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui reiterated that more than 10,000 people have changed their religious status from Muslim to Ahmadi in their Computerised National Identity Cards. He said a majority of these people had shown themselves as Muslims in a bid to have a government job and then changed their official religious status after retirement once they reached the age of 60.
Further citing a government report, he said that out of the total number of those who changed their status from Muslim to Ahmedi, more than 6,000 had left the country. The government had already been directed to produce their travel history, he added.
