ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over terrorist attacks like last year’s suicide bomb explosion at a church in Peshawar, the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith harmony on Monday to submit a report on measures being taken for minorities’ security.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani rejected a report submitted by Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt on special security arrangements at the church, actions taken to bring the culprits to justice and steps to forestall such incidents in future.
Hearing a suo motu case on an application sent by Saleem Michael, chief of the minority wing of the ‘Justice Help Line’, the court said deputing two constables at the church was not an adequate security measure.
The applicant had requested the court to take notice of the Sept 22 attack in which 81 Christians had died and order the authorities to take action against the attackers to prevent future attacks on places of worship.
After receiving the application, the Human Rights Cell of the Supreme Court asked the interior ministry to submit a report on actions taken with regard to the church attack.
But the report was sketchy, stating only that an FIR under Sections 302, 324 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and Section 7 of the Antiterrorism Act had been registered at the Khan Raziq Shaheed Police Station, an investigation was under way and statements of 60 people had been recorded but no clue to the culprits had so far been found.
On Jan 22, the court held that the incident had prima facie violated the safeguards and fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution for the minorities and was also against the tenets of Islam.
The preamble of the Constitution mandated that “adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures”, it had observed in its order, adding that Article 4 of the Constitution also assured to every citizen protection of law.
Article 9 provided that no person should be deprived of life or liberty and by virtue of Article 20 every citizen had been granted freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions, it said.
The court had noted with concern that such incidents raised a serious question of public importance relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights.
On Monday, the court sought from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony a detailed report about measures taken to provide security to the minority communities.
It asked the government to approach a representative of the Catholic Church and one from the Hindu community to declare whether they were satisfied with the steps being taken for their safety and security of their places of worship.
The case will again be taken up on Feb 10.