ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday summoned a senior official from the interior ministry to discern the federal government`s stance on a petition by a civil society activist seeking the court`s intervention in the registration of an FIR against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani directed the state`s counsel to communicate to the Ministry of Interior that a senior ministry ofhcial should appear before the court in person on Jun 9,2016.

The directions came in response to a petition by Mohammad Jibran Nasir, who approached the IHC requesting that thecourt set aside an order of the district court, and direct the respondents to register an FIR against Mr Aziz, his wife and students of Jamia Hafsa for pledging alleglance to Daesh, also known as the Islamic State.

Mr Nasir, a lawyer by profession, turned to the high court after Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Asif Mehmood dismissed his application on March 7 after observing that the complainant lacked legal standing for the registration of an FIR.

The petition lists Islamabad`s Justice of Peace, the interior ministry, the inspector generalofpolice,the seniorsuperintendent of police and the station house officer at the Aabpara police station as respondents.

In the petition, Mr Nasir states that stu-dents from Jamia Hafsa released a video on social media in which they invited Daesh to intervene in Pakistan and kill soldiers and civilians as revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Lal Masjid operation.

He maintained that after the video`s release, Mr Aziz in another video, appreciated and endorsed the students` message and said his mission and Daesh`s mission to implement the caliphate system were the same.

He also said in the petition that Mr Aziz`s name is present on the list of proscribed individuals in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. He added that Mr Aziz, his wife and students of Jamia Hafsa had taken up arms against the state, resulting in the 2007 Lal Masjid military operation.Mr Nasir also stated that Pakistan-based proscribed terrorist organisation called Ansarul Islam had joined Daesh in 2014, and `now runs a militant camp in Syria named after Maulana Abdul Aziz`s brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who was killed in the [2007 operation J`.

He added that allegiance with Daesh, propagating and supporting its agenda and calling them for revenge clearly constitutes cognisable offences of a serious nature that threaten national security as well as peace and order in society.

Mr Nasir asked the court to direct the concerned government officials to register a case against Mr Aziz, his wife and students from Jamia Hafsa, under the antiterrorism act, the Protection of Pakistan Act 2014 and the Pakistan Penal Code.