A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), on Tuesday, dismissed an application to review a 2018 directive to the interior ministry to declare the Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF) a proscribed organisation and the resultant transfer of control of its educational institutions to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.
On December 13, 2018, a local lawyer, Sohail Sajid, had urged the SC through a constitutional petition to declare the group a terrorist outfit. He had also requested that the custody of Pak-Turk Schools be granted to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.
In this case, the apex court had ordered the interior ministry to include the name of PTICEF in the first schedule to Section 11-B of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
Further, Pakistan’s financial institutions were also asked to immediately freeze bank accounts of PTICEF and hand the custody of such assets to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.
As the hearing went underway on Tuesday, Justice Ijazul Ehsan, said that 40 other countries had also shut these schools down and that the PTICEF had been declared a proscribed organisation. During the hearing, Pak-Turk school administration’s lawyer maintained that no terrorist outfit had any role in establishing the schools, which were created using funds from the Turkish population.
Justice Azmat Saeed, heading the panel, pointed out that the Turkish government and supreme court had also declared the PTICEF as a proscribed organisation.
The lawyer then argued that Malaysia had not shut these schools down, to which Justice Saeed replied: “Then you should go to Malaysia.” He maintained, “Do you want to change [the school’s] name and fool people again? This way other banned outfits will also start opening up various organisations. You cannot come to court and defend a proscribed outfit.” The lawyer argued before the court that the interior and foreign ministries of Pakistan had allowed the organisation to open up schools here. Justice Ehsan replied that these same departments of the government had later come to the court and made note of Fethullah Gulen’s organisation turning into a terrorist outfit and how it was being used to launder money and fund terrorist outfits.
While dismissing the petition, the judge said that the Government of Pakistan stood with the Turkish government.
Pak-Turk schools were administered by a foundation linked to Gulen, once considered an ally by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan.
However, Ankara has blamed Gulen for sponsoring the overthrow attempt in July 2016, resulting in a global crackdown on his religious and educational network.
Gulen is said to be behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, especially the military, police, and judiciary.
