LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday sought personal appearance of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi in implementing a 2019 verdict requiring action against the people involved in publication of inauthentic copies of the holy Quran.

Justice Shujaat Ali Khan was hearing a contempt petition by Hassan Muawayah, which alleged that Ahamdi community and other non-Muslims continued to publish and upload copies of Quran with distorted Arabic text and mutilated translation on the internet and Google play store only to mislead Muslims.

The petitioner said repeated applications had been filed with the home department and police authorities for action against the suspects in light of the judgment.

He said the conduct of the respondent authorities was in violation of the law and the court’s decision.

The judge Mr Khan remarked that the court did not have any other option for implementation of its decision.

The court summoned the caretaker PM and CM, Attorney General of Pakistan and Advocate General Punjab to appear before it on Oct 16 and submit their statement about the policy of their governments.

The judge remarked that the federal and provincial governments had not submitted a report despite an eight-month delay in implementation of the decision of the court.

The government’s lawyer replied that he would submit the report to which the judge asked him if he had been coming to court for leisure.

The judge also remarked that the case belonged to ‘everyone’ instead of just the lawyer and the court.

He also said that it seemed that the matter had not been placed in front of the prime minister at all.

In the judgement passed in 2019, Justice Khan had ordered the government to ensure the copies of the Quran were duly approved by the Quran Board before the publication in press and on the internet.

The judge had directed the Quran Board and the government to have a vigilant eye on publication and printing of any religious material, in particular Quran, against its original text or authentic meaning.

He also directed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to take up the matter with managers/operators of the application stores to remove every application containing inauthentic text of the Quran and other religious books of the Muslims.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2023