October 2, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 24, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: The Supreme Court was asked on Tuesday to stay holding of elections till the time the “discrimination of Ahmadis among the minorities was abolished.”

Petitioner Shahid Orakzai, in continuation of his earlier constitutional petition, filed an application on Tuesday, seeking issuance of stay against polling until the court determined the constitutional and legal questions raised in his petition.

The petitioner stated that en bloc ouster of the Qadiani Group or the Lahore Group from the general elections was an unjust denial of the right of vote as well as “equality of status, (and) of opportunity” as ensured in the constitution.

The petitioner, however, stated his petition should not be construed as an endorsement of Qadianis in religious matters because his application was strictly about their political rights and equality of all citizens before the law.

He contended that while the elections were being organised on the basis of joint electorate, the Qadianis, unlike other minorities, could not be proposed as candidates for national and provincial assemblies for general as well as minority seats.

It stated that nomination Form-1 which carried an oath, denied the Ahmadis the right of professing one’s religion as the bottom line of the said oath was: “nor do I belong to the Qadiani group or the Lahori group or call myself an Ahmadi”.

“Why should a citizen who calls himself an Ahmadi be denied the right to identify his religious status,” he stated.

It stated that under Article 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002, any citizen who refused to sign the oath prescribed therein loses his right of vote for the general seats.