News
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Petition moved in SC for disqualification of Malik
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A petition was on Friday moved in the Supreme Court seeking the disqualification of Interior Minister Rehman Malik for failing to correctly recite a written Quranic verse four times in a cabinet meeting.
Muhammad Traiq Asad advocate filed the petition under Article 184(3) of the constitution making the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Senate chairman, the prime minister, the federal government through the cabinet secretary and Interior Minister Rehman Malik respondents.
The petitioner pleaded the court declare Malik disqualified from becoming a member of parliament and direct the Senate chairman to refer the matter of his disqualification to the chief election commissioner under Clause 2 of Article 63. He also prayed the court direct the PM remove Malik from the cabinet.
The petitioner submitted that Malik failed to correctly recite Surah Ikhlas four times, causing all participants in the cabinet meeting to burst into laughter. He said Malik tried to read and recite four times, but every time he recited the same verse wrong, for which all participants were amazed and laughed at him.
He said Malik’s ignorance of the fundamentals of Islam – Tauheed (belief in one God) – has exposed to the public at large that he was not qualified to contest the election of parliament as it was required that under an eligibility of a candidate to contest the election of Senate, he is to fulfill all qualifications, including that he should have adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and that he practices obligatory duties prescribed by Islam. “But reciting Surah Ikhlas so wrong, even when you are reading it from a paper, revealed that Malik does not know any verse of the holy Quran,” the petitioner submitted.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk