PKR Youth has slammed the religious authorities over their need to “rigorously pursue action” against Borders store manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz for selling a “controversial” book.
 
Its chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said this is especially so since the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department’s (Jawi) grouse is with the book in question.
 
“Nik Raina is just the branch manager and she cannot be faulted for the availability of the book as it was not banned at that time,” he said in a statement today.
 
Jawi, the home minister, and Jamil Khir Baharom, the minister in charge of Islamic Affairs, in the Prime Minister's Department, had last week, filed a leave application to take the matter all the way to the Federal Court.
 
All three parties are appealing against the Court of Appeal's decision which dismissed Jawi’s challenge of a High Court ruling declaring its raid on the bookstore as unlawful.
 
Jawi had raided the bookstore in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on May 23, 2012 and seized copies of the Bahasa Malaysia translation of ‘Allah, Liberty and Love’ by Muslim Canadian author Irshad Manji.
 
At the time of the raid, the book had not been banned, but a prohibition on its sale was gazetted six days later on May 29.
 
Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi called upon Jawi to stop making Nik Raina the scapegoat.
 
“It was held by the Courts that the seizure of the book by Jawi was unconstitutional.
 
 “As such, we call upon Jawi to withdraw the application for leave to appeal and not pursue the matter further,” he said.