Latest News

Do courts in India reflect BJP’s anti-Muslim sentiments?

Published

11 months ago

Farwa

The hijab ban was the stepping stone in a series of Islamophobic attacks in India. Comments by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Prophet (PBUH) and the vicious attacks on Muslim protesters that followed reflect BJP’s anti-Islam propaganda.

However, is it only the government in India that is Islamophobic or do courts reflect the same sentiments?

It is no secret that the Indian authorities have adopted policies that systematically discriminate against Muslims. The prejudice and anti-Muslim agenda embedded in the BJP also echoes in judgements by the Indian courts.

Recently, the Karnataka High Court upheld a state government order that banned headscarves in classrooms. The Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi of the Karnataka High Court said in the judgment that: “We are of the considered opinion that wearing of hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice.”

The judgment also stated that the government had the power to prescribe uniform guidelines.

Needless to say, this judgment was problematic in many ways. Firstly, this judgment exposes the realpolitik of India. For a country that calls itself “socialist”, “secular”, and “democratic”, the rise of Islamophobia in India says otherwise.

Under the BJP leadership, India has become one of the most dangerous countries for its minorities. The government seems to work tirelessly toward stripping Muslims of their fundamental rights and the Karnataka judgment is proof of this.

The judgment also violates several international human rights. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) discusses the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. In 1993, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), in its general comment No. 22, stated that “not only ceremonial acts but also such customs as the observance of dietary regulations, the wearing of distinctive clothing or head coverings” fall under the scope of this Article.

Like many other countries, India has ratified the convention therefore it has a legal obligation to respect this provision.

Back in 2020, France passed a law Act No. 2010-1192 that stated that no one may, in a public space, “wear any article of clothing intended to conceal the face.” Arguing that this law violated their right to express their religion, two women approached the UNHRC where two landmark decisions were given in Miriana Hebbadj v. France and Sonia Yaker v. France.

The Court held that the burqa ban was a violation of the right to freedom of religion under Article 18 of the ICCPR.

Therefore, by looking at the case law, it can be understood that the burqa and hijab are protected under Article 18 of the ICCPR thus the Karnataka High Court, by banning the hijab, violated international human rights law.

The Karnataka Court based its reasoning on three grounds; equality, fraternity, and public order. The judgment achieves the opposite of equality as it bans an extremely important element of the Islamic religion.

Furthermore, there is no substantial evidence that proves that hijab is a threat to public order that justifies an absolute ban. Wearing a hijab is an external manifestation of a woman’s religious beliefs.

In this case, the judges relied on the “essentiality test” in order to determine whether the hijab is essential or not. By deciding what is essential in religion, the judges are entering into a theological terrain. Judges all around the world, especially in non-Muslim countries tend to know very little about Islam.

Deciding on important questions such as the one posed in this case should only be decided by jurists or theologians who understand the religion and the court should have relied on their rulings.

Judges deciding such important matters can and unfortunately has led to dangerous circumstances.

Current India has become extremely dangerous for its minorities, especially Muslims. India under the right-wing BJP seems to be committed to targeting Muslims and the recent events in the country seem to be proof of this.

International forums should have taken notice of the hijab ban as a serious violation of the human rights of Muslims in India. By choosing to ignore this, the world paved the way for more serious attacks on Muslims.

The recent remarks by Nupur Sharma have exposed the true sentiments of the BJP government towards Muslims. The recent surge in violence should not go unnoticed and India should be held accountable for its actions.

Entertainment

Sham Idrees announces break in his marriage with Froggy

Published

4 months ago

Farwa

YouTube’s famous couple Sham Idrees and Froggy aka Sehar are taking sometime away from each other in their relationship.

Sham, taking it to his Instagram, left his fans in a shock after announcing his separation with Froggy. He wrote: “I would like to announce that me and froggy are taking sometime away from each other in our relationship. Please don’t involve me in issues concerning froggy, rabil or any of the other family members. I appreciate some privacy during this difficult time.”

Sham Idrees announces break in his marriage with Froggy

Sham is a Canadian based YouTuber, who has a following of 1.4 million people on Instagram, is widely-known for his entertaining content. His videos often feature his wife Sehar along with him.

The couple tied the knot a few years ago and is parents to baby Sierra who is two-years old. The duo welcomed another daughter on September 28, 2022. They named her Shanaya Idrees.

After the birth of his first daughter, Sham Idrees also introduced his fans to his daughter Dua from his previous marriage.

Latest News

Massive power breakdown hits Pakistan

Published

4 months ago

Farwa

Minister says power generation units are temporarily shut in winter at night.
Says frequency variation in national grid triggered outage.
Says ministry trying to restore power in next 12 hours.

LAHORE/KARACHI/QUETTA/ISLAMABAD: A countrywide power breakdown, triggered by a “frequency variation” in the national grid early Monday morning, has left large parts of the country including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta without electricity.

Power Minister Khurrum Dastagir, while talking to Geo News, said that the power generation units are temporarily shut down in winter at night as an economic measure to save fuel costs.

“When the systems were turned on at 7:30am this morning one by one, frequency variation was reported in the southern part of the country between Jamshoro and Dadu. There was a fluctuation in voltage and power generating units were shut down one by one due to cascading impact. This is not a major crisis,” said the federal minister as the country plunged into darkness for the second time in four months.

The minister said that his ministry has started restoring some grid stations in Tarbela and Warsak.

“Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) and some grids of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) have already been restored,” claimed the minister.

Talking about the breakdown in Karachi, the minister said that the matter in the port city is complicated as it has a complete electric supply system.

A shopkeeper speaks with a customer (not pictured) at a medical store during a country-wide power breakdown in Karachi, Pakistan January 23, 2023. — Reuters

“We provide K-Electric about 1,000-1,100 megawatts routinely, however, it will be restored within a few hours. It is not certain how long will it take to sort this issue. However, my target is to restore electricity in the country in the next 12 hours,” said the minister.

Before the energy ministry’s announcement, different power distribution companies had confirmed the breakdown.

According to Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO), the two transmission lines have tripped leaving 22 districts of Balochistan, including Quetta without power.

Karachi power update

Meanwhile, K-Electric spokesperson Imran Rana said that at approximately 7:34am today, the national grid experienced a loss of frequency, affecting the power supply to multiple cities across Pakistan

“This has also cascaded to KE’s network affecting power supply to Karachi,” Rana said, adding the KE’s network is safe and protected.

“Our teams are actively monitoring the situation and enabling restoration efforts.”

An IESCO spokesperson said that its 117 grid stations were without electricity.

Meanwhile, PESCO also confirmed the outage in areas where it supplies electricity.

This is the second time within four months that a country was hit by a major power breakdown.

NEPRA takes notice

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), in a statement, said that it has taken “serious notice” of the power outage and directed the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) to submit a “detailed report”.

The statement also said that the regulator has previously imposed fines on similar outages in the 2021 and 2022. It also shared that NEPRA has consistently issued directives and recommendations on tackling such events in future.

Previous breakdown

In October of last year, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Multan, and Faisalabad were hit by a power outage.

At that time, the power minister said that nearly 8,000 megawatts of power went offline.

Back then, Dastagir had said that the simultaneous faults in two power lines, which had triggered the breakdown, at the same time was concerning for the government. He had also announced that an in-depth inquiry was ordered and promised action.

A timeline of power breakdowns in Pakistan

The country’s generation and distribution network has suffered eight major power breakdowns during the last nine years.

In 2014 and 2017, nationwide blackouts were caused by a fault in Tarbela Power Station while fog, frequency variation and the Guddu Power Plant fault were blamed for breakdowns in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Every time the party in power announced to conduct a comprehensive probe and vowed to rectify the issues but nothing has happened despite multiple inquiries.

Latest News

Punjab ordered to issue divorce certificates to non-Muslims

Published

4 months ago

Farwa

Lahore High Court directs provincial authority to frame rules within 90 days.
Petitioner says issue is faced by many members of Christian community.
NADRA’s Registration Policy allows change of marital status on basis of affidavit.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Wednesday directed the Punjab government to frame, within 90 days, rules under which union councils would issue divorce certificates to members of Christian and other non-Muslim communities in Pakistan.

In many parts of the country, the divorce certificates are not issued to non-Muslims by union councils that instead claimed such certificates were “not issued to the Christian community.” This is an issue for members of the said community because, without a divorce certificate, they cannot request the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to update their marital status while applying for the renewal of their identity cards.

The matter was brought to the attention of the LHC during the case Shumaila Sharif vs the secretary union council etc.

The petitioner in her appeal requested that the court is a writ of Mandamus — an order from a court to an inferior government official ordering the government official to properly — against the relevant union council and direct it to issue her the divorce certificate.

The case proceedings

The petition was heard on December 16 last year and the presiding judge was Judge Tariq Saleem Sheikh.

During the proceedings, the counsel of the petitioner, Advocate Umar Saeed, said that the issue was faced by several people in the Christian community and was not a one-off incident.

Citing Section 33 (1)(j) of the Punjab Local Government Act 2022 (PLGA 2022) — which mandates that union councils ensure registration of births, deaths, marriages and divorces for all the communities without discrimination — and Article 36 of the Constitution, which expressly requires the state to protect the minorities’ legitimate rights and interests, the counsel argued that by refusing to issue the requisite certificate, the council was failing to fulfil its legal duty.

Additionally, Advocate Kashif Alexander, the court’s amicus curiae on the matter, contended that obtaining a divorce certificate is a legal right that cannot be denied.

Together the two emphasise that while the Constitution of Pakistan (1973) does not explicitly guarantee the right to identity, Article 9 (right to life) and Article 14 (dignity of man) safeguard that right. Therefore, any citizen whose marital status changes due to the dissolution of marriage by divorce has a fundamental right to obtain a divorce certificate from the competent authority and then have their CNIC updated/revised.

The Additional Advocate General has little to defend the respondents and said that the provincial government was taking steps to address the complaints of the Christian community regarding the non-issuance of divorce certificates.

The verdict

During the proceedings, it was brought to the court’s attention that NADRA’s Registration Policy dated 06.04.2021 (Version 5.0.2) allowed a change of marital status of a divorcee on the basis of an affidavit in the prescribed form.

In light of this, the court directed that until the provincial government framed the requisite rules needed for the issuance of the divorce certificate by the union council, NADRA shall accommodate the Christian community in accordance with the Registration Policy 19.