LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday sought replies from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Punjab Quran Board on a petition by religious scholar Engineer Mirza Muhammad Ali against the inquiry against him.

Advocate Nabeel Javed Kahloon, the counsel for the petitioner, appeared before the court and stated that the FIA initiated an inquiry against his client without issuing any notice or hearing his stance.

He said the FIA sent an old social media video to the Punjab Quran Board to obtain an edict on it. He said the board declared the petitioner “guilty” of blasphemy.

The counsel argued that the board had no legal authority to issue such edicts.

He pointed out that the jurisdiction of the board is limited to matters related to the printing, publication and textual accuracy of the Holy Qur’an only.

He asked the court to declare the edict void and order the FIA to immediately terminate the inquiry against the petitioner.

The court issued notices to the respondents for submission of replies before the next date of hearing.

Mirza has recently been released from jail after the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench granted him post-arrest bail in a blasphemy case.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2025