Islamabad –  The Islamabad High Court will today take up a petition seeking details of Ahmadis holding high positions in important national institutions.

A single bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq will conduct hearing of the petition seeking above-mentioned information under Article 19-A, Right to Information.

Hafiz Ehtisham has moved the petition and cited Prime Minister through his Principal Secretary, Secretary Law, Secretary Interior, Secretary Defence and chairman NADRA as respondents.

In his petition, the petitioner has quoted Article 19-A, “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.”

He also mentioned a detailed verdict of the IHC in a writ petition in which the court had held, “In the larger interest of the country, the court is avoiding disclosing the names of many who held high positions in bureaucracy, judiciary, military, naval and air forces and other sensitive and important institutions having Qadiani beliefs while hiding their real religious identities as it would bring bad taste but this practice has to be brought to a halt. Every citizen of the country has the right to know that the persons(s) holding the key posts belongs to which religious community; the person(s) scheming syllabus for their children profess what religious beliefs; the person(s) formulating their policies tend to hold their beloved Prophet (PBUH); in what esteem, the person(s) believed to be the ambassadors and representatives of their Islamic ideology and interests to the rest of the world as diplomats propagate, which ideology and save whose interests and last but not the least, the defender(s) in whose hands the defence of Islamic Republic of Pakistan rests belongs to which religion? This was the responsibility of the state and the federal government in particular but it has badly failed to discharge it which necessitated this court to issue directive.”

He added that in the light of Article 19-A and the above-mentioned court’s verdict, it is the constitutional right of the petitioner that he should be given detailed list of persons appointed on higher position in major national institutions.

Therefore, he requested the court to issue directions to the respondents to provide required information to the petitioner without any delay in the light of Article 19-A.

source:

https://nation.com.pk/15-Oct-2018/ihc-to-take-up-today-plea-on-list-of-ahmadis-on-key-posts