Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
High Court (IHC) on Wednesday made it clear only the federal government and the federal cabinet were entitled to devise the country’s foreign policy or maintain diplomatic relations with other countries. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani of the IHC said this while hearing a plea filed by the Lal Masjid’s Shohada Foundation that sought severing of diplomatic ties with France in the wake of offensive caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) published in the country and anti-Islam statements of the French President Emmanuel Macron.
Counsel for the petitioner, President of the Shohada Foundation Tariq Asad Advocate held that a number of countries including Turkey, Qatar and Bangladeshi had protested against publication of the caricatures in France. He said the French president himself had ordered display of those offensive cartoons on the buildings of France which was not acceptable.
President Macron on October 21 while addressing a ceremony in memory of a school teacher Samuel Paty who was beheaded by an Islamic radical for showing the caricatures to his students in the classroom, had vowed that France would not give up cartoons.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani while hearing Advocate Tariq Asad’s arguments remarked the government of Pakistan had already taken a number of steps like condemning the French government’s provocative step and summoning the French ambassador to the Foreign Office and registering strong protest with him.
The judge said a resolution had also been passed by the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan in this regard. The court later sent the matter to the Federal Cabinet for decision in light of the public sentiments and disposed of the matter.
