Religious parties announce anti-govt movement

Conference held at Mansoora lashes out at Women’s Protection Bill

LAHORE: Prominent religious parties on Saturday announced launching a countrywide movement against the government over what they called the ‘secularising’ of the country at the alleged behest of Western powers.

Accusing the government of taking anti-Islam measures, leaders belonging to various schools of thought said during the Nizam-e-Mustafa Conference held at Mansoora that the movement would aim at protecting the Islamic character of the Constitution and Pakistani society, the family system, seminaries and mosques.  They said their struggle would continue till the enforcement of Shariah in the country and freeing it from the clutches of a corrupt ruling elite.

Chaired by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Siraj-ul-Haq, the conference was addressed by JUI-F’s Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq of the JUI-S, Senator Sajid Mir, JUP president Dr Abul Khair Zubair and others.

The joint declaration described any amendment in the blasphemy law as unacceptable and called for withdrawing the cases against those staging protests against the execution of Mumtaz Qadri.

The conference termed the Women’s Protection Bill adopted by the Punjab Assembly an attack on the family system and resolved to bring an alternative draft, saying the government would not be permitted to shake the family system.

The declaration denounced the efforts of a section of the media to ridicule Islamic rites and promote Indian culture, stressing that the tendency must be checked effectively.

The conference strongly condemned the Lahore terror attack and all forms terrorism and extremism, while
observing that these aimed at weakening the country’s
ideology, solidarity and economy.

It also condemned the Indian intelligence agency’s network and demanded that the RAW agents or spies taken into custody must not be treated with leniency and should be handed down exemplary punishment.

The gathering denounced the government for its alleged propaganda against seminaries and accusations of them of being involved in terrorism, saying the practice should come to an end.

It criticised the government for the alleged efforts to sideline the Kashmir issue and improving ties with India.

The conference also slated the government’s silence over the execution of religious leaders in Bangladesh.

In his speech, Siraj said Pakistan was an Islamic ideological state and had not been established for secularism or liberalism.  

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s slogan of a liberal Pakistan and PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto’s move for a political alliance against the religious parties was an indication that both rulers and opposition were following the dictates of the US and other Western countries.

Fazl accused the US of trying eliminate all the institutions propagating Islam and said the West believed that the Western system would collapse if the world adopted Islam’s economic system.

Abul Khair Zubair said the religious forces, if they stood united, would gain political power automatically.