The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday ruled that the reconstruction of a church inside a Muslim institution was not an un-Islamic act and that Islam guaranteed the rights of minorities living in a Muslim country. “There is no ban on the construction or reconstruction of a mosque in non-Muslims’ countries around the world. Being Muslim, we should be tolerant, as Islam teaches us the same,” said PHC Chief Justice Tariq Pervaz Khan while hearing the writ petition of two Agriculture University students, who had challenged the reconstruction of the United Church located in the Christians Colony inside the University of Peshawar. The church was damaged in the mid 80s when some students allegedly attacked and ransacked the church. Two students – Salahuddin and Murtaza, who had filed the writ petition against the church’s reconstruction in the campus, on the consent of Advocate Khurshid Ahmad Shahan – withdrew their writ petition after the PHC observed that construction or reconstruction of a church is not an un-Islamic act. The court asked, “Why did the head of a religious party’s government allocate funds and attend the reconstruction ceremony as a chief guest, if the church’s construction were un-Islamic?” To another question of the court, the petitioners’ counsel accepted that Muslims were given facilities at the missionary schools.
Shahan contended that the worship places of minorities could not be allowed in institutions where the Muslims were in a majority. “The university authorities’ decision to allow Christians to reconstruct their place of worship inside the campus would give rise to an unending series of demands by other minorities for the same purpose,” said the students in the petition. They said the church’s reconstruction would “trigger sectarianism” among students of minorities and Muslims.