All faiths, political systems have their fanatics says Justice Jilani

Supreme Court judge inaugurates jurists’ conference, CJP to arrive today.

LAHORE:

Every faith and political system has its fanatics who resort to religion and ethnicity, Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jilani said on Friday.

Justice Jilani, a senior Supre Court judge, was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day International Conference on Peace Through Law organised by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) here at a local hotel.

He said it was interesting that most of the actors in war against terror, including commanders and troops, come from civilian backgrounds.

“We are witnessing a rare phenomenon…people outside the power structure, working on their own, can damage social harmony more than the powerful regimes led by dictators, presidents and prime ministers,” Jilani said.

He said the state had a duty to enforce law with a view to ensure peace.

“Democracy is not just about holding periodic elections…it is a way of life and the office of the “citizen” is its basic component,” he said.

He said the comity of nations had realised over the years that war is not a solution to conflicts.

“Peace can only be achieved by adhering to rule of law,” he said.

He said a culture of peace is based on political, economic, cultural and religious peace. “Religious peace and tolerance are fundamental elements of a culture of peace,” he said.

Speaking about Pakistan-India relations, Jilani said a measure of religious intolerance had existed in human societies since early history.

“With dawn of reason, enlightenment and now globalisation, it was hoped that people would become more pluralistic and tolerant than before…but the human aberration of intolerance persists,” he said.

Justice Jilani quoted from Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11 1947 speech to the Constituent Assembly that “You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state …..Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and your will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizen of the state.”

Justice Jilani ended his speech by saying that citizens should stand up to defend the rule of law.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary could not arrive at the inaugural session of the conference.

He had agreed to be the chief guest at the first day of the conference.

Justice Jilani told the audience that the CJP was held up by an official engagement but would attend the conference on October 20 (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.