Positive signs for Ahmadi Muslim lawyers in Pakistan

In a response to the Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, the Chair of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has signalled that there must be no restrictions on Ahmadi Muslims practising as lawyers in Pakistan.

The clarification that a bar on Ahmadi Muslims would be unconstitutional has been issued after Nick Vineall KC, the then Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales, wrote to the PBC in May 2023 to raise serious concerns that Ahmadi Muslims were being asked to renounce their religion in order to practise at the Bar.

These concerns were raised after notices were issued by the District Bar Association of Gujranwala and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council stating that anyone applying for admittance to the Bar must positively assert they are Muslim and denounce the teachings of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Following the Chair of the Bar of England and Wales’ intervention, the PBC discussed the matter and received a response from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.

In a letter to Sam Townend KC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, in January, Hassan Raza Pasha, then Chair of the PBC Executive Committee, explained that the Committee considered the matter in the light of the Constitution of Pakistan and: “It was decided that the Resolutions passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and the District Bar Association, Gujranwala, have no legal value which is against the spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan. Therefore, no one can impose restriction and seek such like declaration in future.”

Sam Townend KC has now written to the new PBC Chair Farooq Hamid Naek to ask for further clarification that Ahmadi Muslim lawyers cannot be required to denounce their faith in order to be called to the Bar, presently or in future.

Commenting on the developments, Sam Townend KC said: “It appears that the Pakistan Bar Council agrees with our interpretation that any measures that exclude Ahmadi Muslims and non-Muslims from the Bar would be impossible to reconcile with Pakistan’s constitutional principles of religious freedom and equality before the law.

“We welcome the clarification that the notices issued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gujranwala have no legal value. This is a positive sign.

“Given the specific concerns we initially raised, we are now seeking further written clarification that Ahmadi Muslims will not be required to denounce their faith or the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad anywhere in Pakistan, and that this has been communicated to all district Bars and associations.”

Download the Bar Council letter

The original post can be read HERE.

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

This Cookie Policy explains how Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK (AMA UK)  Limited (“company”, “we”, “us”, and “ours”) use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites, including without limitation www.ahmadiyyauk.org and its mobile or localized versions and related domains / sub-domains (“Websites”) and/or our mobile application (“App”). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or mobile application. Cookies are then sent back to the originating site on each subsequent visit, or to another site that recognizes that cookies. You can find out more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are widely used in order to make sites work or to work more efficiently.

We use cookies to enhance the online experience of our visitors (for example, by remembering your visits and/or page preferences) and to better understand how our site is used. Cookies may tell us, for example, whether you have visited our site before or whether you are a new visitor.

Cookies can remain on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies are ‘session cookies’, meaning that they exist only while your browser is open. These are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Other cookies are ‘permanent cookies,’ meaning that they survive after your browser is closed. They can be used by the site to recognize your computer or mobile device when you open your browser and browse the Internet again.

Why do we use cookies?

We use cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites and/or App to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites and/or App. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites and/or App for analytics and other purposes such as Google Analytics. In particular, we use forms related cookies which when you submit data through a form such as those found on contact pages or comment forms cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence.

How can you control cookies?

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and we have explained how you can exercise this right below. However, please note that if you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of our site.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.

How often will we update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.