SC seeks Centre’s reply on Waseem Rizvi's plea against ‘unIslamic’ flags

New Delhi, July 16: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the central government's response on a plea filed by Shia Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi seeking ban on green flags with crescent and star, resembling national flag of Pakistan.

A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked the counsel for Shia Waqf Board chairman Syed Waseem Rizvi to serve a copy of the petition to Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to enable him file a reply on behalf of the Centre.

The Shia Waqf Board on April 17 moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on hoisting of green flags with crescent and star at buildings and religious places, terming it "un-Islamic" and resembling the flags of a Pakistani political party.

Syed Waseem Rizvi, the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Board of Waqfs, claimed in his plea that during his visit to Mumbai and other places in the country, he saw flags on several buildings and religious structures, which were allegedly a cause of tension between Hindu and Muslim communities.

The plea alleged that the flags hoisted resembled the flags of the Pakistan Muslim League, which belongs to the "enemy country".

It claimed that the crescent star flags in green colour owes its origins to the erstwhile political party, Muslim League, founded by Nawaz Waqar Ul-Malik and Mohammad Ali Jinnah in 1906, but in the present day, it was being used by Indian Muslims who were treating it as an Islamic flag.

Such flags are being hoisted in Muslim-dominated areas with "utmost impunity", the plea said, claiming that the crescent and star in a green backdrop have never been part of any Islamic practice and does not have any role or significance in Islam.

It said that Pakistan, as an "enemy country", has been responsible for a series of terror attacks on our country and promoting and propagating cross border terrorism.

"Our country remains vulnerable to the hidden attacks by the Pakistani intelligence agencies through their militant network which is very active in our country", he claimed.

"Hoisting of enemy flags by persons under wrong belief that it is a religious flag, require immediate attention of the government agencies," it claimed.

Even the national flag of Pakistan, which was adopted in 1947, after its partition from India is a green field with a white crescent moon and five-rayed star at its center, and a vertical white stripe at the hoist side, which is based on the All-India Muslim League's flag.