Paper short abstract:

By analyzing the role of Council of Islamic Ideology as a refuge for both the government and the religious parties in Pakistan, this paper contextualizes the influence of its recommendations on the legal system of the country.

Paper long abstract:

Council of Islamic Ideology (Council) is a permanent constitutional body under the 1973 constitution of Pakistan. It is composed of 'ulema', 'technocrats' and 'legal experts' numbering eight to twenty and appointed for 3 years stint, to advise the President and the Parliament on laws that are inconsistent with Quran and Sunnah. Its founders envisioned body to open the 'flood gates of Ijtihad'. Since the creation of Pakistan there have been divergent debates that what role should Islam play in its politics? The response of each government has been different to the question of Islam and in this quest Pakistan had vacillated between 'Basic democracy' of General Ayub Khan to 'Islamic socialism' of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and 'Islamic democracy' of General Zia ul haq to 'Enlightened moderation' of General Parvez Musharraf and Council's recommendations were apparently the retrospect of this attitude. During all these regimes Council emerged as very intriguing institution that needs to be studied scientifically as it served as a refuge for both the government to introduce the 'vague Islamic legislations' and as a platform for the traditionalists to influence the government. My paper will argue that Council had played more significant role in Islamisation of laws of country as is commonly perceived due to more visible manifestations.