ISLAMABAD: Conflicting interpretations of the constitution by the ministry of law and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has left the federal government in a state of confusion over the fate of the council, The Express Tribune has learnt.
For the ministry of law, constitutionally the CII stands abolished after completing its mandate in 1996, which was entrusted to it in 1973.
According to the ministry, the CII has already accomplished the task that was mandated to it under Article 230 (4) of the constitution which says, “The Council of Islamic Ideology shall submit its final report within seven years of its appointment and shall submit an annual interim report. The report, whether interim or final, shall be laid for discussion before both houses and each provincial assembly within six months of its receipt, and parliament, after considering the report, shall enact laws in respect thereof within a period of two years of the final report.”
The council took about 23 years to submit the report to parliament.
The CII legal experts, disagreeing with the ministry’s interpretation, argue that the CII is a permanent body under Article 230 of the constitution and there is no timeframe mentioned in the constitution so far as its existing period is concerned.
Constitutional experts refer to section (c) of Article 230 which says “to make recommendations as to the measures for bringing existing laws into conformity with the injunctions of Islam.”
The CII legal experts, while resisting the ministry’s move and in their last ditch efforts to survive as a supreme constitutional advisory body on Islamisation of the society, argue that the CII is still in the process of examining the existing laws that were enacted after 1996 to bring them into conformity with the injunctions of Islam.
The source, who preferred to remain unidentified, said the CII stands abolished as it has already completed its constitutional mandate years ago, adding that “only a formal announcement by the government is required to close the chapter of the CII.”
Law ministry officials said that an idea to abolish the CII was floated in 1997, after the body submitted its final report in 1996. The idea was based on the arguments that the whole process of Islamisation of laws should be entrusted to the Federal Shariat Court which is a composite court of all federating units of Pakistan.
According to the suggestions, “The provisions relating to the CII, for its ineffectiveness and due to the existence of the Federal Shariat Court, be deleted from the constitution to avoid unnecessary duplication of the work of Islamisation of laws and save expenditure.”
Another suggestion was that “The functions of the Federal Shariat Court may be expanded so as to include some of the functions of the advisory nature of the council, which may be assigned to the Federal Shariat Court. The present staff recruited by the council may be absorbed in the Federal Shariat Court. Those who are working in the council on deputation may be sent back to their parent departments.”
It was also suggested that the constitutional and legal provisions relating to the Shariat Appellate Bench in the Supreme Court should be deleted. The ad hoc Ulema members of the Shariat Appellate Bench, who have been appointed from amongst the Judges of the Federal Shariat Court should be sent back to the Federal Shariat Court.
However, the ideas could not materialise for political reasons during Nawaz Sharif’s government.
The idea again surfaced during the rule of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, but it remained undecided due to political compulsions.
However, the abolition of the CII stands unresolved. Due to this reason the ministry of law used the word “till further orders” when it appointed JUI leader Maulana Sherani as the chairman of the CII last month, the source concluded.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2010.
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