Govt vows strict legal action over threats to Chief Justice Isa

Kh Asif says State won’t allow anyone to issue a fatwa to kill someone

— Iqbal says inciting violence, offering reward for taking life was ‘open rebellion’ against Constitution

ISLAMABAD: Federal government officials on Monday strongly condemned the remarks against the top judge and vowed to take strict action against “those spreading lies about him”.

Addressing a joint press conference on Monday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the remarks, stating that elements with “vested political interests” were “spreading blood and violence” in the name of religion.

“As you all know [certain elements] are trying to incite people to killings on social media through extremist posts. If such things are being said in the name of a blessed religion, then there is nothing more insulting for the religion,” Asif said.

“The state will take action against this because things being said about Qazi sahab is based on lies and he has been targeted through different tactics for the last few years.”

The defence minister added that the Supreme Court had issued a judgment in the Mubarak Sani case but the elements concerned were still spreading propaganda based on lies.

“The state will not allow you to issue a fatwa (decree) to kill someone. If we allow this, the writ of the state will crumble,” Asif said.

Echoing the SC order, Asif said that the finality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a fundamental part of Islam, without which one cannot be called a Muslim.

“Khatm-i-Nabuwat (finality of the Prophethood) is a fundamental part of our faith,” he said. “Our religion is one of love. We need to demonstrate that side of our faith to the world, not this side that weakens our faith.”

He added that the state has systems in place to prevent this group from making false allegations.

“No group can incite violence in the name of faith or politics. We will use the full force of the law to bring them to justice,” he said, adding that the state will not accept dictation by any group.

“The Constitution must govern this state and justice must be delivered,” Asif said before the planning minister delivered his address.

Iqbal said inciting violence against the chief justice and offering a Rs10 million reward for taking his life was an “open rebellion against Pakistan’s Constitution”.

Referring to a 2018 assassination attempt on him, he said he had also been a target of “these people”, calling the attack on him a “political act to eliminate the PML-N’s leadership by weaponising the finality of Prophethood”.

“Back in 2017-2018, when this group propped up under a political agenda, I said that all of us are Muslims and all Muslims fundamentally believe in the finality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” Iqbal said.

“Pakistan has a Constitution, laws, and court, and no individual or group has the right to issue fatwas. Only our courts have the authority to judge and punish.”

The minister warned that if such groups were allowed to continue issuing such decrees, then the country would be “bathed in fire and blood”.

Iqbal then referred to the ‘Paigham-i-Pakistan’ — a declaration developed and signed by Pakistan’s ulema calling for unity and a unanimous narrative to counter extremism — explaining that within that document, the ulema had condemned issuing death threats, suicide bombings, and terrorism.

“The ulema said that none of these are related to Islam,” Iqbal highlighted.

“Islam believes in the good of people and forbids killing — killing one person is akin to killing the human race,” the planning minister said. “Yet there are people getting murdered in our streets, like that Sri Lankan man in Sialkot.

“We had to endure shame and embarrassment on the global stage after that, then again after Jaranwala, Sargodha and Swat,” Iqbal said, referring to incidents of mob violence in the past year.