CII terms Engineer Muhammad Ali’s remarks controversial

ISLAMABAD (Rizwan Abbasi): Council of Islamic Ideology said that several statements of Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza contain blasphemy, which have been repeated without any purpose.

The 243rd meeting of the Council of Islamic Ideology was held in Islamabad, in which the FIR 295-C registered against Mirza Muhammad Ali Engineer and the letter of the National Cyber ​​Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Rawalpindi were considered in detail.

The council termed the statements as blasphemous and deemed their conduct worthy of severe penal punishment.

The council’s statement clarified that blasphemous words in the Quran and Sunnah have been quoted only for the purpose of rejection, denial, and warning. Repeating such words unnecessarily is unlawful and a grave sin.

According to the council, Mirza Muhammad Ali Engineer repeated blasphemous phrases, which have made his crime more serious.

The statement said that in a clip of Mirza Engineer, an accusation and spiritual distortion of the Holy Quran was made by referring to Surah Maidah, verse number 5, while his personal words are not found anywhere in this verse.

The council declared that this statement falls under the category of insulting the Quran, spiritual distortion, and blasphemy.

On this basis, the council has recommended that the section of insulting the Quran be included in the registered FIR.

During the meeting, the council also expressed concern that the letter sent by NCIA Rawalpindi gives the impression of bias, as it only included fatwas in favor of Mirza Engineer, while the arguments and fatwas of the plaintiff were not included.

The council said that no investigative agency should present a one-sided position in any forum.

The council termed Mirza Engineer’s statement as a cause of spreading mischief  and decided that a formal letter would be sent to the Christian community of Pakistan to explain in writing whether the words of Mirza Muhammad Ali Engineer were in line with their religious books or collective opinion or not.

A voice message from Christian leader Father J.M. Chanan was also played during the meeting, in which he strongly denied the impression that any such word was present in his books or beliefs.

He said that Mirza Engineer’s words are considered slander on the Christian community.

The statement further said that important Christian leaders of Pakistan have also called these words a false accusation against them.

The Council of Islamic Ideology emphasized in its statement that all evidence and the positions of the parties will be taken into equal consideration in the future proceedings on this sensitive issue.