Constitutional experts, politicians and a minority leaders on Thursday blasted the claims of some clerics that a non-Muslim cannot hold the office of chief justice in Pakistan, saying that the Constitution does not restrict any such appointment. Qari Hanif Jalandhry, central leader of Ittehad Tanzimat-e-Madrassa-e-Dinya (ITMD), has said that Pakistan is an Islamic country hence a non-Muslim cannot hold the office of chief justice. “There is no such example in Muslim history or in any Muslim country,” he said.Jalandhry said this was the first time in the history of the country that such an issue had risen. Asked to comment on Article 180(b) of the Constitution, which says that “the president shall appoint the most senior of the other judges of the Supreme Court to act as chief justice of Pakistan”, Jalandhry said parliament should amend the Constitution.
Senior constitutional expert Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan rejected Jalandhry’s view and said there was no constitutional provision barring a non-Muslim from becoming the chief justice of the country. “The Supreme Court is not the Federal Shariat Court, though there is a Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Muslim judges,” he said. However, he said it was not mandatory for a non-Muslim chief justice or a judge to be part of the Shariat Appellate Bench. “A non-Muslim cannot be declared ineligible to become chief justice on the basis of religion,” Aitzaz said. “Justice Bhagwandas cannot become a member of the Shariat Appellate Bench even if he becomes chief justice.”
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, deputy parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), said that according to the Constitution, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was still chief justice of Pakistan. “By raising this issue of whether or not a non-Muslim can become the chief justice of the country, the government is confusing the nation,” he said, but added that a non-Muslim can become the chief justice of the country. Raja Zafarul Haq, chairman of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said there was no constitutional bar on a non-Muslim becoming the chief justice. “According to my opinion, there is nothing wrong if a non-Muslim becomes the chief justice of Pakistan,” he said, adding however, that this was not the right time to discuss such issues.
Commenting on the statements of Maulana Samiul Haq and religious organisations that a non-Muslim cannot become chief justice in an Islamic country like Pakistan, All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti said that there was no constitutional bar on a non-Muslim to become chief justice of Pakistan. He said one of the most outstanding and dynamic judges in the history of Pakistan was Justice AR Cornelius, a Christian, who headed the apex court from 1960 to 1968. Bhatti referred to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali JinnahÂ’s address to the first Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, in which he had clearly said that Pakistan would not be a theocratic state and religion had nothing to do with the business of the state.