Top court upholds verdict on Pak-Turk schools

Justice Saeed says that Turkish govt and Turkish apex court have also declared PTICEF a proscribed organization

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking a review of its 2018 order that had declared Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF) a banned organization and directed the handing over of control of its educational institutions to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.

On December 13, 2018, lawyer Sohail Sajid had filed a constitutional petition in the apex court and requested it to declare the group a terrorist outfit in the country. The petitioner had also requested that the custody of Pak-Turk Schools be granted to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.

Announcing its verdict, the top court had ordered the interior ministry to include the name of PTICEF in the first schedule to Section 11-B of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.



In today’s hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan who was part of a three-member bench headed by Justice Azmat Saeed, remarked that Turkish government and Turkish Supreme Court have also declared PTICEF a proscribed organization while 40 other countries have also shut down these schools.

Counsel for Pak-Turk school administration observed that the Turkish government had no role in the establishment of the schools. It was the Turkish people who had generated funds for the creation of the schools.

He further said that Malaysia had not shut these schools down, to which Justice Saeed replied, “Then you should go to Malaysia.”

Justice Saeed asked the counsel, "Do you want to change [the school's] name and fool people again? Other banned outfits will also start opening up institutions in Pakistan. You cannot come to court and defend a proscribed outfit.”

The lawyer then argued that the interior and foreign ministries of Pakistan had allowed this organisation to open up schools here.

Justice Ijazul Ehsan replied that the said ministries came to court and said that Fethullah Gulen's organisation has turned into a terrorist outfit and that the organisation was being used for money laundering and funding terrorist outfits.

Dismissing the application, the judge said that the Government of Pakistan stands with the Turkish government.

The Pak-Turk schools were administered by a foundation linked to Fethullah Gulen, once an ally of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, since the abortive coup attempt in July 2016, the Turkish leadership has blamed Gulen for sponsoring the overthrow attempt, resulting in a global crackdown on the religious and educational network led by him.

Ankara accuses Gulen of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.