Islamabad, Feb 23 (TNS): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday ruled that no person will change his/her religion without its permission till further orders.
A single bench, comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, remarked while hearing a case pertaining to the controversial amendment in the oath of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat for electoral candidates. Siddiqui further ruled that The National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) will not entertain any request regarding change of religion on National Identity Cards (CNICs).
Advocate Akram Sheikh, Babar Awan and Aslam Khaki have been tasked to assist the court on the matter. NADRA informed the judge that more than 1,67,473 people belonging to Qadiani group were registered with it. The acting chairman of NADRA informed the bench that there were 10,205 people who changed their religion from Islam to Qadiani. He submitted details of all those people in a sealed report. The judge asked the NADRA chairman if it was empowered to change religion on Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).
He replied that in the past, people submitted fake affidavits to have their religion changed on CNICs. Justice Siddiqui claimed that Qadiani in order to secure government employment used to change their religion to Islam on CNICs, and when the purpose was served they reverted back to their
