ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday, in the review petition against the verdict in Mubarak Sani case, declared that no private person will be allowed to be a party in the case, however, those individuals or organisations who want to give their opinion should submit their written position in two weeks.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, heard the review petition of Punjab government against the decision of Mubarak Ahmed Sani case.
The court on the last hearing had sought the assistance of Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and other schools of thought in the case of Mubarak Ahmad Sani besides accepting the plea of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) that had requested to be impleaded as party in the instant review petition besides directing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam to file a petition to become a party in the instant case.
On Thursday, during the course of hearing, the SC directed that the hearing in the matter is to be scheduled after two weeks and observed that in the case, they will frame questions based on the opinion of Ulema and petitioners and will get answers from them as well.
The chief justice said the issue of definition of Muslim is final, which is defined by the Constitution and everyone including the court is bound by it adding that there is no discussion on the definition of Muslim.
“It is not our job to make the Constitution and law, we can only interpret the Constitution and law,” the CJP remarked adding that if anyone objects to the definition of Muslim, there is parliament in the adjacent building to amend the Constitution.
Addressing the petitioners and scholars on the rostrum, the Chief Justice told them to enlighten the court on the Shariah side of the matter.
“If our decision is wrong, we will correct the error by revising; revision is a beautiful option to correct the error which is given to the court,” the CJP remarked.
The chief justice said that in civilized societies, wrongs are corrected in the same way adding that wrongs are not corrected by sticks, riots and quarrels. “As Muslims, we have to look at the morals of the Prophet (SAW) to correct the mistakes,” the CJP said.
The court, while devising the procedure for hearing the case, declared that no one will be made a party, but everyone will be heard because in a criminal case, the plaintiff, the state and accused are three parties if not directly affected.
“A private person cannot become a party to a criminal case,” the CJP remarked.
On this occasion, the court inquired if anyone has any objection to the procedure laid down by the court.
Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, counsel for Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), supported the procedure laid down by the court while Kamran Murtaza, counsel for JUIF, submitted that it was the authority of the court to regulate the court proceedings.
At this, the chief justice said the court had given three-week time to the petitioners to submit their written submissions adding that the court is still receiving responses, so whoever wants to submit an opinion should submit a written opinion within two weeks.
“After receiving it, we will read it and if necessary, we will make questions and ask for answers,” the CJP said.