Religious Scholar Engineer Mirza Muhammad Ali. Photo: File
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday extended its order to suspend the Islamic Ideology Council’s opinion declaring engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza guilty of blasphemy till April 7 and sought the assistance of the Attorney General at the next hearing.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was hearing a petition filed by Aslam Khaki challenging the council’s opinion against Mirza. Despite previous court orders, the public prosecutor did not appear before the court.
Assistant Attorney General Usman Ghuman told the court that the Attorney General was unavailable due to previous commitments and offered that the Additional Attorney General could appear instead. Judge Kayani rejected the request and insisted that the Minister of Justice personally attend, noting that he had already asked him to assist the court.
The Attorney General then requested that a new date be set for the Attorney General’s meeting. The court accepted the request and adjourned the hearing to April 7.
Read: Court grants Engr Muhammad Ali Mirza bail in blasphemy case
Mirza was initially detained on August 27 by the Jhelum police under section 3 of maintenance of public order. He was later moved to prison and then handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency after a blasphemy case was registered against him.
The FIR, filed at the Jhelum City police station, alleged that a video circulating online, initially uploaded on Mirza’s YouTube channel, contained blasphemous remarks about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and a misinterpretation of Surah al-Nisa. The complainant said the video was offensive and violated Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
The case includes charges under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016. Section 295-C states that “whoever, whether spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by attribution, insinuation or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defames the name of the Prophet Muhamad. Him) shall be punished with death and shall be fined.”
Read More: Blasphemy FIR filed against Engineer Mirza as Punjab Police refuses remand
Section 11 of PECA deals with the preparation and dissemination of information that promotes inter-religious, sectarian or racial hatred and carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine.
Mirza is a well-known online figure with more than three million subscribers on YouTube. He also heads the Qur’an-o-Sunnat Research Academy in Jhelum, which has been sealed by local authorities. No official reason has been given for the sealing.
He has previously faced similar accusations. In May 2020, Mirza was charged with allegedly making derogatory remarks against other religious scholars and was later released on bail. In 2023, he was again charged with blasphemy over comments about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his views on the Ahmadi community, but these charges were later dropped.
Blasphemy remains one of the most sensitive and controversial issues in Pakistan, with human rights groups repeatedly calling on the government to prevent misuse of the law for personal or political purposes.
