The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against the inclusion of Arabic as a mandatory component of the national educational curriculum.

The Punjab government had filed a petition with the apex court against the decision taken by the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) to include Arabic as a compulsory subject in all school curriculums.

A hearing in the matter was held on Wednesday by a three-member bench of the SC, presided over by Justice Musheer Alam.

During the course of hearing, the court was informed that on October 22, 2010, the FSC had taken the decision to make Arabic a compulsory component of school curriculums across Pakistan and directed federal and provincial governments to take all necessary measures for progress in this regard.

A letter penned by the principal of Oriental College, Lahore, Zahoor Ahmed Azhar, was converted into an application and a decision was taken thereafter by the sharia court.

The letter had termed Arabic as one of the world's top languages and had also referenced General Ziaul Haq's decision to declare Arabic a mandatory course from the sixth to the 12th grade.

It had also proposed the use of the Arabic language across various other fields besides education.

The Punjab government's counsellor Qasim Chohan argued that the sharia court did not have the right to make such a decision and that there was a distinction between such matters and those pertaining to religion.

After listening to arguments from both side, the court ruled the sharia court's decision as null and void, saying that such a decision fell outside the sharia court's scope of authority.