The country’s top Islamic guidance body, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), on Wednesday declared the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test unacceptable as evidence in case of forced rape, besides terming cloning as unethical and un-Islamic.

The members of the Council of Islamic Ideology met under the chairmanship of Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani during a two-day sitting of the council.

CII members declared the cloning process ‘Haram’ or ‘forbidden’ under Islam, saying it would not be permitted.

However, the cloning procedure could be used for the replacement of damaged body parts, or the growth of new parts of the human body for which the body is reviewing the issue, the council members stressed.

The council on issue of forced rape held a detailed debate in relation with the evidences acceptable under the law.

Most members of the council were of the opinion that Islam gave detailed guidelines in connection with the nature, accusation, justification, punishment and compensation in case of rape of any member of the society.

Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, Maulana Sherani, Mufti Ghulam Mustafa Rizvi and some other members of the council termed DNA test in connection with forced rape as insufficient evidence, saying weak evidence could affect the health of the issue as well as distorting it from the reality.

Elaborating, they said DNA test could prove much helpful in such cases so it should be accepted as secondary evidence.

Members of the council said rape was a crime that required much care in account of evidences and DNA did not stand with accurate parameters as evidence for the crime.

Over the issue of blasphemy laws in the country, the council warned the government not to alter the current laws, saying members of the council would continue reviewing it.

Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi clarified that all members of the council agreed that blasphemy law should stay, however, its misuse should be halted regardless of the religion.

“No one should be permitted to misuse the law, whether one is Muslim or non-Muslim,” Ashrafi said.

The council also recommended using Islamic words (like Allah, Paighambar, Rasool, Masjid) should not be replaced by the identical synonyms in other languages.

The members maintained that the use of synonyms like holy book or holy place was forbidden in the Islam.

The council also recommended sending drafts for the purpose to all provincial education ministries, Higher Education Commission and all text book boards.

It also expressed concern over the exclusion of subjects portraying Islamic teachings, ideology of Pakistan, nationalism and religious teachings from the curriculum and replacing them with other subjects.

The CII also directed the research DG and Council Secretary Ilyas Khan to acquire the curriculum from class one to matriculation and indicate the flaws in accordance with Islamic teachings.

The council chairman also directed member Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer to review the educational syllabus and curriculum being taught in Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and to present a detailed report before the members of the council.

On the differences among various committees for sighting the Eid moon, the council also decided to call a negotiating session in which the central and provincial moon-sighting committees would be requested to participate in order to remove the existing issues.