SHC dismisses plea for lifting restrictions on Friday congregational prayers

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed a petition seeking the withdrawal of restrictions imposed on the Friday congregational prayers in Sindh in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The petition had been filed by Arshad Riaz Mughal who sought a direction to the provincial government for relaxing the lockdown rules regarding the Friday prayers at mosques. The petitioner had submitted that the Sindh government’s decision to restrict the number of worshippers in the Friday prayers to a maximum limit of five was against the Islamic injunctions as well as the fundamental right of religious freedom. He submitted that banks, courts and superstores were allowed to operate during the lockdown if they observed precautionary measures.

An additional advocate general submitted that the examination of the law and policy according to the Islamic injunctions as enunciated in the Holy Quran and Sunnah was solely the domain of the Federal Shariat Court and the jurisdiction of high court in such matter was barred by the virtue of Article 203 (g) and the matter was not justiciable under the Article 199 of the Constitution.

He submitted that the provincial government’s decisions were subject to review on a periodic basis and the restrictions on congregational prayers could be revised after reassessment of circumstances.

Stating that the restrictions were imposed to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed and save the lives of people, the additional advocate general requested the high court to dismiss the petition as it was not maintainable.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar after hearing the arguments observed that the provincial government’s comments reflected that the restrictions had been placed after obtaining guidance from religious scholars from all the major schools of thought and copies of numerous edicts issued by prominent Ulema endorsing the government action had been placed on record.

The high court observed that since the jurisdiction to test vires of enactment or order having the force of law purely on the basis of Islamic injunctions was vested exclusively with the Federal Shariat Court, it was unnecessary for the high court to undertake further scrutiny or digress to the scholarly interpretation of divine words at this juncture.

The SHC observed that the lockdown order of April 2 did not curtail the right of worship per-se but merely to congregate and that too in view of exigencies of the prevailing pandemic. The high court observed that there was an undoubted medical consensus as to the need for social distancing.

The bench observed that steps being taken by the provincial government to limit the size of religious congregations at mosques were evidently not a standalone measure that only targeted the places of worship but they were part of a more comprehensive set of measures designed to curtail social interaction as a whole in the wake of the spread of COVID-19 across the world.

The high court observed that the protocols that have been put in place appeared to have been designed with due thought in public interest under the prevailing circumstances and the breach, thereof, at any particular level would serve to undermine the efficiency of the overall scheme, which would increase the risk of the spread of the viral infection, endangering human life.

The SHC observed that the decision to curtail the size of congregations under the law was only an interim measure that had been put in place after obtaining guidance from religious scholars as per edicts available on record. The bench observed that the provincial law officer had informed it that the interim restrictions were up to April 14 and a future decision would be dependent on the review of the prevailing situation. The The SHC observed that the petition was not maintainable and dismissed it.