DAP national chief Karpal Singh will not be holding talks with his PAS counterparts to resolve his current spat with one of the party's former leaders over the hudud law issue.

In recent weeks, Karpal has been at loggerheads with former PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, who described the veteran lawyer as "anti-Islam".

The labelling prompted Karpal to threaten legal action against the Bachok MP, while strongly refuting allegations that he was against the religion.

pas muktamar 130610 nasharuddin mat isa 2 Following Karpal's warning, Nasharuddin  ( left ) was quoted in the pro-Umno Malay dailies on the first day of Hari Raya as boldly welcoming Karpal's

Karpal said it was not necessary to dialogue with the PAS leadership over the party's insistence on implementing the law should it come to power after the 13th general election, which is likely to be held this year.

On whether his problem with Nasharuddin would split the four-year old Pakatan Rakyat, Karpal insisted that he had never said anything to disparage Islam.

"The DAP and I accept Islam as the country's official religon as stated in the constitution," he said, repeated his stand to reporters at a press conference in Air Itam, Penang yesterday.

"However, we do not accept the Islamic state as it is not mentioned at all in the constitution," he added.

"It is Nasharuddin who started to attack me after his returned from Mecca," stressed Karpal, referring to the PAS leader's controversial trip to the Holy land.

Controversial Mecca trip

Nasharuddin recently irked even his own party members and supporters when he was featured in Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia alongside the party's arch rival, Prime Minister Najb Abdul Razak.

The hudud law has been constantly in the limelight with the MCA jumping into the bandwagon to discredit the DAP for not standing up to its partner's insistence on Islamic law.

A Penang DAP Malay leader Zulkifli Mohd Noor had however said this was not the right time to implement hudud and if ever it came to pass, the law should not be applied to non-Muslims.

His stand is consistent with renowned Islamic scholar and Oxford University professor Tariq Ramadan who warned against "playing with hudud and Islam".

Impossible to apply hudud?

Meanwhile, Karpal opined that hudud was not necessarily better than current law as it needed "100 percent confirmation which is beyond a shadow of a doubt," to prove guilt.

"Unlike now, we only need to prove someone is guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

"For example, according to hudud law, in a rape case, we need four credible witnesses but it would be impossible to get them," he added.

"It would be very diffcult to prove a case in court and if we applied the law, no one would be convicted (for their crimes)," stressed the Bukit Gelugor MP.

Karpal maintained his earlier position that the Islamic jurisprudence would "encourage crime as it does not serve as a deterrent".

He added that it would not be in the public interest to apply the law as it would be "practically impossible to do so".