Jamatud Dawa runs Shariat Court in Lahore

ISLAMABAD: Jamatud Dawa is running its court in Lahore. This illegal and unconstitutional court called the Darul Qaza Shariat is issuing notices to people. Though the JuD is on the watchlist of the Interior Ministry, it seems that no one is keeping an eye on its activities, revealed Shahzeb Khanzada in his programme on Geo.

Khalid Saeed, a victim of the JuD court, said in the programme that one Muhammad Azam called him through the court in 2010 and obtained cheques. He said he paid all the money but got another notice on January 19, 2016. The notice carried the name of the Federal Shariat Court and one Hafiz Idrees called him on the phone threatening that they would take him to the court from his office if he failed to appear before the “court” on January 25.

He said he could not go to his office because of these threats for the last three months. He said he put up applications to the chief justice, the army chief and the prime minister, etc, against this practice. He said the Supreme Court referred his application to the Samanabad Police Station. He said he tried to go to the police station but “Maulana Sahiban” were around in their pick-up trucks.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told Khanzada that they were trying to contact the victim after viewing the news. The DIG Operations has been told to investigate the formation of the illegal court, he said. He said the responsible would be held accountable if the news was true. He said no one has the right to force others to bow to a Panchayat. He said the government would settle the matter within 24 hours, adding that no one was allowed to set up an illegal court.

Media reports mention that the JuD spokesman Yahya Mujahid defends the functioning of the ‘Sharia Court’ saying it is not a parallel system to the constitutional courts of the country. “It is an arbitration court, which decides disputes with the consent of the parties,” he said. He states disputes have been resolved in accordance with the Islamic laws and that offering arbitration to confronting parties is not illegal.

--Originally published in The News