CII meeting sought to protect

ISLAMABAD: An early meeting of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has been sought to discuss the recently announced Supreme Court decision in respect to the non-mentioning of Islamic provisions among the identified “Salient Features” of Constitution.
Member Council Dr Samia Raheel Qazi told The News here on Monday that she has approached the chairman CII for an early meeting of the body to discuss the apex court decision, which has raised question in regard to the omission of Islamic provisions as the basic feature of the Constitution.
Dr Samia said that she would press the Council to formally demand the federal government to file a review petition to the extent of seeking “correction” for the inclusion of Islamic provision as among the “Salient Features” of the Constitution. Dr Samia, who has been Jamaat-e-Islami’s MNA and is the daughter of former JI Amir late Qazi Hussain Ahmad, said that she is expecting a decision from CII Chairman Moulana Muhammad Shirani about the convening of an early meeting of the Council.
The CII, she said, may also opt if legally possible to become party in the review case to protect Objective Resolution and other Islamic provisions of the Constitution by including them in the basic structure of the document.
The main decision in 18th and 21st amendment case while avoiding to conclusively determining all the Salient Features of the Constitution though did declare democracy, parliamentary form of government and independence of judiciary as being the Salient Features, did not mention the Islamic provisions.
The SC decision said, “The Salient Features as are ascertainable from the Constitution including Democracy, Parliamentary Form of Government and Independence of Judiciary.” The decision created doubts in many minds about the non-mentioning of the Islamic provisions as being one of the Salient Features.
While discussing the theory of Salient Features in the light of the past apex court judgments, the SC said, “It may not be necessary to conclusively determine the Salient Features of the Constitution, however, Democracy, Parliamentary Form of Government and Independence of Judiciary are certainly included in the prominent characteristics, forming the Salient Features, which are primarily relevant for the adjudication of the list at hand.”
In the earlier decisions, referred to in the judgment, one of the basic features mentioned was “Parliamentary Form of Government blended with Islamic Provision”. However, the latest decision talked of “Parliamentary Form of Government” only.
Former Supreme Court Judge Justice (r) Wajiuddin Ahmad and ex-high court judge Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood recently while commenting on this aspect of the judgment said that it appeared to be an “omission”, which needs to be taken care of at the review stage.
Some of the petitioners including Hamid Khan and Taufiq Asif have already indicated to include this important point in their review petitions to be filed before the apex court.