Islamabad, June 21 (PTI): Former Pakistan tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has served a legal notice against the Lal Masjid “shariat court” here for issuing a fatwa against her, according to the Daily Times newspaper.

The shariat court issued the decree after Bakhtiar hugged a French paragliding instructor and posed in pictures with them.

Bakhtiar, who quit last month as tourism minister, said the fatwa had damaged her reputation, family honour and political career.

The notice asks Mufti Yunus, who issued the decree, to apologise for un-Islamic and unlawful conduct that hurt the dignity of an honourable Muslim lady. It warns that the failure to apologise would result in civil and legal proceeding.

Bhaktiar, who is also a women’s rights activist, is related to the secretary of the National Security Council Tariq Aziz.

She had reportedly complained of a lack of support from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) after the clerics issued the fatwa against her.