Zubair Qureshi
The newly elected president and secretary of Islamabad Bar Association in a bizarre move have made it mandatory for bar members to declare their faith through an affidavit before January 31, 2020.
The Muslim members of the bar are particularly directed by the Bar to submit an affidavit by the above-mentioned date that they believe in “Finality of the Last Prophet.” In case of non-compliance their membership will stand cancelled.
In a letter issued on January 15, 2020 to the Bar members, President of the Islamabad Bar, Zafar Malik Khokhar and Secretary Nabeel Mirza have informed all the members of the bar to submit their affidavits in line with a resolution passed in the general body meeting of the bar on January 6, 2020.
“In the said resolution it was decided that declaration of the members’ faith was mandatory,” says the letter adding however, for the Muslim lawyers submission of an affidavit that they believe in Prophet Mohammad as Last Prophet of God is must.
“In case of non-compliance their membership will be cancelled and their names will be put on the notice board of the Bar, the notice further makes it clear.
While talking to Pakistan Observer on Sunday, a number of lawyers of the Islamabad Bar expressed their resentment over the said notice saying they would resist such biased direction.
“It is hard to believe that the Bar President and the Secretary have issued such an order,” said they. “I will not submit any such delectation even if I lose my membership,” said a senior lawyer and former office-bearer of the District Bar Khalid Chaudhry Advocate.
Another lawyer requesting not to be named said it seems recently hardliners have taken over the entire bar by taking such religion-based measures and sadly the District Bar of Islamabad whose members exceeds 2,000 is hijacked by these handful elements, he said.
According to Chaudhry Khalid Hussain so far none of the bar members, has complied with the directions of the District Bar president and the secretary. “Religion” he said “is everyone’s personal matter and one doesn’t need certificate from any president or the secretary of the bar to prove one’s religious ideals.”
It has also been made mandatory for the lawyers interested in bar elections to submit affidavit on “Finality of Prophethood.”
Meanwhile, Senator of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and spokesperson for PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar has decided to resign from bar membership in protest over this prejudiced order. In a tweet, Khokhar said the direction by the bar member was in violation of one’s right to exercise one’s faith according to one’s choice.
Khokhar in his tweet said, “Clearly Jinnah’s Pakistan remains a distant dream! His 11th August speech buried in heaps of paranoia, intolerance and bigotry. Being a member of the Isb Bar, I am deeply saddened to b put under the spotlight to prove my faith. Suppose will b losing my membership after the 31st.”
