Islamabad High Court Orders List Of People Who Left Islam

Islamabad High Court has ordered the country’s national citizen register to prepare a list of people who have left Islam and requested a change of religion with the registry department, Rabwah Times has reported.

An estimated 10,000 people have reportedly changed their religion from Islam to Ahmadiyya in Pakistan, and the court has sought a list of the people along with their age, parents’ names and their international travel history in the list.

The court order has led to fears that the Ahmadiyya population in Pakistan, already suffering state and societal persecution, can be singled out further.

The court is being assisted in the hearing by a Professor at the University of Punjab in Lahore, Hafiz Hassan Madni who said claimed that people who left Islam for another religion was an ‘apostate’ and deserve to be penalised.

Madni has also recommended that non-Muslims shouldn’t be made Judges in the country. Notably, Pakistan has had a Hindu, Rana Bhagwandas, as its acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who enjoyed a very good reputation as a judge.

Ahmadiyyas, who played an active part in the formation of Pakistan, were declared non-Muslims in 1974 through an amendment in Pakistani constitution and are often at the receiving end of religious extremism in Pakistan.

“Qadianis are more dangerous than infidels. They are neither Muslims nor Christians and in fact, they have covered themselves under Islam,” Madni added, using the official term for Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan.