LAHORE – Jamatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is head of ‘Sharia courts, the supra-constitutional ‘judicial’ system established by his ‘missionary’ group across Pakistan, a private TV channel reported.
Quoting Mufti Muhammad Idrees, a ‘judge’ at the Masjid Al-Qadsiya, the channel reported that seven ‘Sharia courts’ have been functional for long, one each in Lahore, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Multan, Quetta, Karachi and even in Islamabad.
The channel reported that the supra-constitutional court has issued verdicts in 5,550 cases, including murder trials only in Lahore. As head, Hafiz Saeed is ‘empowered’ to appoint ‘judges’ as Head Qazi (chief judge).
“Hafiz Saeed is also an appellant authority, as he reserves the right to hearing appeals and can dismiss decisions made by subordinate judges,” it said. “Any objection raised by any party is tantamount to disobedience of Allah and His messenger,” said Mufti Idrees.
The ‘judge’ said that their ‘courts’ have not even heard a single case of rape as there is need of four eyewitnesses to decide. He also said that the ‘courts’ do not issue orders of qisas, as it is the duty of the state to decide about the qisas. “We are working according to Pakistan’s law,” he said.
– Statement of Hafiz Saeed –
“Our arbitration councils accept only those cases involving family disputes in which both parties agree on arbitration by councils, and 95 per cent of such cases are decided according to Quran and Sunnah,” said Hafiz Saeed in his clarification. He also said that the Jamatud Dawa has always been opposed to any state within state or a parallel governance system.
He said the arbitration council by the Jamatud Dawa had been working for the past 22 years. “We believe in the constitution and laws of the land and do not want to run any parallel system,” he said. He said that his organisation has no links with summons to anyone at all.
– Statement of JuD spokesperson –
The arbitrary council, presided over by clerics, merely provides arbitration services to the consenting parties in the light of Quran and Sunnah, said Yahiya Mujahid, a spokesperson for the group. “In fact, arbitrary council is not a parallel court and it does not issue any kind of summon or seek money for arbitration,” he said.
Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General Haider Ashraf denied having any knowledge about the ‘Sharia court’ in Lahore or any complaint against it. “The police will take action if they received any complaint as the law did not allow any parallel judicial system,” he said.
