ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah on Monday dismissed a petition challenging National Action Plan (NAP) to counter Covid-19 by sighting it contrary to the injunctions of Islam.  The court also fined Rs20,000 by declaring the petition frivolous and unwarranted attempt to make NAP controversial.

Petitioner Irum Malik appeared before the court in person and pleaded that the government while formulating the NAP to counter Covid-19 ignored the basic concept of ‘agony’, which is clearly mentioned in Holy Quran.

The court gave an ample opportunity to the petitioner and heard at great length. She asserted that the scientific reasons stated in the NAP as the basis for the origins of the life threatening virus are contrary to the Holy Quran. 

She stated that there are clear directions in the Holy Quran to get rid of ‘agony’ but the government instead of declaring it Izab-e-Elahi is considering it as a viral disease, which had spread from China.  She pleaded that the government instead of taking refuge from a divine agony in Islamic manner has laid down precautionary measures alone into the NAP to fight Covid-19, which is contrary to the Islam.

She prayed that the court may declare the NAP un-Islamic and direct the government to disseminate correct information among the masses to avoid its further spread.

The court, however, asked her whether she was qualified to interpret the injunctions of Islam, the Quranic verses and whether she had the requisite knowledge of “Usul-ul-Fiqh” i.e. the prescribed principles for deriving a “hukam” from the sources.         

The petitioner could not satisfy the court over her calibre to interpret the Holy Quran on her own, which is a pre-requisite to make an attempt to interpret the prime source of Islam.

Resultantly, the court has dismissed the petition while sighting it frivolous, unjustified and unwarranted attempt to make the NAP controversial.

The court also imposed Rs20,000 on the petition for attempting to make government’s policies controversial and to impede the measures taken by the latter to protect the citizens from the harm of the deadly virus.