IHC judge throws out petition against Covid-19 vaccine

As countries around the world are rolling out vaccines against Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, conspiracy theories have started swirling around with anti-vaxxers are going into overdrive to weave sinister myths about the jab.

According to one such false claim, the vaccines are being used to implant microchips in people and that they will alter a person’s DNA. While most people laugh off such theories, there are people who believe it to be true.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed on Monday as non-maintainable a petition filed by a citizen seeking a restraining order against the government which is in the process of acquiring the Covid vaccine.

The petition was filed by Tariq Khokhar through his attorney Tariq Asad.

Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb of the IHC told the petitioner that he could refuse to get vaccinated if he had issues with the jab. To this, the petitioner’s counsel said it wouldn’t be possible to travel abroad without a vaccination certificate once it was brought into Pakistan.

The learned counsel drew a diagram on a paper to substantiate his client’s claim that the vaccine would be used to implant microchips in people and that they would alter a person’s DNA. “They would spy on us through artificial intelligence,” he added.

“Bill Gates is also working on an agenda to decrease the global population, which we cannot ignore,” he further said while referring to the American billionaire whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also works on vaccines development besides several other global charity works. “Through this vaccine the DNA of pig and chimpanzee would be inserted in people’s bodies,” he claimed.

The court asked the lawyer if they would only turn Pakistanis into monkeys? He responded in the negative. “They would do this to the whole world, while we would become their slaves,” he said. “Currently, we as a nation are in a lockup, while after vaccination, all of us would be in prison,” he said while speaking in figurative language.

After listening to the petitioner’s arguments, the judge briefly reserved his judgement on the maintainability of the petition – and later he dismissed it as non-maintainable.