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SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT - SUMMARY
On 3rd July 1993, the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed a set of eight appeals filed by Ahmadis. The question of law common to all these appeals was whether Martial Law Ordinance XX: "The Anti Islamic Activities of the Qadiani Group, Lahori Group and Ahmadis (Prohibition and Punishment) Ordinance, 1984" was ultra vires the constitution of Pakistan. These appeals had arisen out of proceedings initiated by or against certain individual Ahmadis. The Ahmadiyya Community maintained that no legislative, judicial or executive authority in any country can decide, determine or prescribe religious beliefs for an individual or a group. At the outset of the proceeding, the attorney for the appellants, Retired Judge Fakhruddin Ibrahim, told the court that he had come not to seek a judgment as to whether Ahmadis should be called Muslims or not. What the appellants sought from the Court was the restoration of their basic rights guaranteed under Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan. It was argued that the provisions of Ordinance XX of 1984 were:
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals on the grounds that:
The majority judgment argues that
The majority judgment further holds that
This advice confirms the opinion of the International Commission of Jurists:
The judgment thus denies Ahmadis the religious practices which have earlier been declared by the courts to be their religious practices and effectively entrenches the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistani law. The five parts of section 10e that follow are the full text of the judgment of the court.
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