By Ansar Abbasi


ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s appalling failure to recite correctly one of the briefest Surahs of the Holy Quran, al-Ikhlas, in Wednesday’s cabinet meeting raises the fundamental question whether Article 62 and Article 63 of the Constitution have any relevance.
Already despite extremely clear constitutional provision against corrupt and looters, there is no dearth of parliamentarians having stinking reputation. It is due to irrelevance of these constitutional provisions that the Election Commission sources agree that no mechanism has ever been evolved and put into place to sift those who do not meet the conditions set by the Constitution.
The Election Commission sources, however, indicated that there is need to work out some mechanism to ensure that only those people should get to parliament who are clean, have good reputation and meet other conditions as envisaged in the Constitution.
Leading constitutional expert and senior parliamentarian Senator Wasim Sajjad said that in a rare case challenging the qualification of a sitting MP, the Lahore High Court had once disqualified the MP but the apex court later decided against the high court’s decision and ruled that only through the court’s decision could such conditions be invoked.
Previous debates though had been focusing on corruption allegations and bad reputation of members of the Parliament the Wednesday’s event for the first time exposes a top federal minister having failed thrice to recite correctly what is considered the basic lesson taught to every Muslim child. Interestingly, the minister was reading from the written script but even then he could not recite it correctly leaving everybody in the cabinet room laughing.
Article 62 (d) and (e) are relevant here which read: “(d) he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions; (e) he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practises obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins.”
Rehman Malik was shown only two days back offering Fateha for his assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto at Naudero. For prayers al-Fateha and al-Ikhlas are considered basic. What he has been reciting on the occasion is not known.
In the NRO case, the petitioners challenging the ordinance had also quoted Article 62(f) questioning the qualification of Asif Ali Zardari as the President of Pakistan. The said Article reads: (f) he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen”. These clauses do not apply to a non-Muslim, but such a person shall have good moral reputation as per the Constitution.