By IANS
Islamabad : Challenging the 'fatwa' against her with a legal notice, Pakistan's former tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has sought an apology from a Muslim clergy who she says damaged her "reputation, family honour and political career".
The fatwa, the Islamic edict, issued by Mufti Yunus of Islamabad's Lal Masjid, had "hurt the dignity of an honourable Muslim lady," said the notice served by her lawyer Aslam Khaki.
Bakhtiar was eased out as chief of the women's wing of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid) and had to resign from the cabinet under pressure.
She was in the eye of a controversy for hugging her paragliding instructor in March, an action considered un-Islamic. Photographs in the media showed her being hugged by her coach, a Frenchman, after she carried out her exercise.
The pictures provoked the clergy's anger. Bakhtiar had initially ridiculed the fatwa, saying she had para-jumped for charity for the victims of the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
She would do it again if there were another cause like this, she had said.
Her legal notice demanded an apology for "un-Islamic and unlawful conduct".
The notice warned that failure to apologise would result in civil and legal proceedings, the Daily Times reported.