KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 13 -- The lawyer for Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Natasha Tengku Abdul Rahman has denied any procedural irregularity in challenging Kelantan shariah enactment, saying that including the federal government as a respondent is unnecessary.

Amid claims made by Former Court of Appeal Judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer who said the application was a "non-starter" without the participation of the federal government and the Attorney General (AG), lawyer Surendra Ananth told Malay Mail that the government opted not to intervene in the case to avoid conflicting with the Kelantan state government and disrupting the relationship between the two governments.

"The federal government was fully aware of ...