Quoting from the 2011-12 report, he said that even the Council had frankly admitted that after the submission of its final report in December 1996 it was no longer constitutionally required to continue submitting annual reports to the Parliament. However, the Council also unilaterally decided to keep submitting annual reports for what it says continuity of a tradition, he said and asked what obliges the parliament to accept the desire of following a tradition "that is sanctioned neither by constitution, nor by the law; nor has the parliament asked for it."
Babar said that the fact that it is no longer a constitutional requirement for the Council to submit annual reports raises questions about its status which needs to be looked into and clarified. He said that the Council was merely an advisory body that could neither make law nor strike down any law. The task assigned to it under the 1973 Constitution had been completed and further submission of annual reports was no longer a constitutional requirement.
On the other hand, the Federal Shariat Court, Babar added, is tasked to examine and can even strike down any law on the touchstone of whether it was Islamic or not. He asked: "Where then was the need for CII and its reports?" According to its special 2008 report, Babar said that 90 % of the laws were not in conflict with Islam and that only 10 % may be reviewed by the Parliament, adding an examination of those remaining 10% laws was now in the domain of the parliament and not the Council's.
The PPP senator said that the Council had also made some very controversial pronouncements. Citing examples, he said that the Council has rejected a draft bill for establishing homes for the elderly saying that the idea was against the norms and traditions of society, rejected the Women Protection's Bill 2006 and declared that DNA test results were unacceptable as primary evidence in cases of rape.
He recalled that sometime back the Council first approved the draft of a resolution recommending amending the blasphemy law so as to discourage false allegations, but soon the hard-liners joined hands and struck down the proposed resolution. In March 2014, the CII decreed that current laws forbidding child marriage were un-Islamic, he said and added that in 1978 it recommended that Pakistan should change the national flag with a view to motivating people for martyrdom and jehad.
"Recommendations such as these demonstrate how dangerously conservative and out of touch with the times the CII is today, and we demand that the law and justice committee should examine the whole issue regarding constitutional and legal status of the Council," he added.
However, Chairman Senate turned down Babar's suggestion to refer the matter to Standing Committee on Law and Justice, saying there is no mention in the constitution that after submission of its report the CII would cease to exist. Raja Zafarul Haq also seconded the chairman. Maulana Attaur Rehman and Hafiz Hamdullah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), whose party had been holding the CII chairmanship for so many years, came up with an interesting argument.
The cleric duo termed the criticism by some 'left-wing' senators like Farhatullah Babar as 'criticism on Islam'. Leader of the opposition Aitzaz Ahsan made it crystal clear to the lawmakers belonging to hard-liner political parties such as JUI-F that discussion on CII must not be taken as discussion on Islam, adding that there was no harm on asking a question about the status of the CII. The adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will take Upper House of Parliament into confidence today (Wednesday) through an in-camera briefing on the ongoing Iran-Saudi conflict.
Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani issued orders to the adviser to take the upper house into confidence on growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran in an in-camera session. "The Advisor can brief [the house] in an in-camera session but this house cannot be devoid of information," Rabbani said while asking leader of the house in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq to arrange a briefing here today [Wednesday]. Colonel Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (Retd) of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had sought a statement from the advisor after highlighting the sensitivity of the issue and implications for the country.
However, Raja Zafarul Haq said that matter was sensitive and should not be thrown open at this stage when talks with both the countries were going on. But, Rabbani directed the adviser to brief the house on Iran-Saudi tensions, recent visits of Saudi dignitaries and quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan.