pressuring the government to enforce such regulations in a bid to create chaos in the country.
“Why is the government not banning the singing and dancing celebrations with loud sound systems at wedding halls?” he questioned.
Channa maintained that the Jamaat-e-Islami supported the government’s action against some elements involved in using loudspeakers for speeches meant to incite sectarian hatred. “But we will not tolerate the policy to ban all mosques from using loudspeakers.”
Interviews with religious leaders and government officials suggest that religious parties belonging to the Barelvi school of thought are more irked by the new law.
Noorani corroborated it and said the authorities were banning people from reciting darood-o-salaam. “An unjustified ban on performing religious rituals will not be tolerated at any cost,” he added.
In February, dozens of religious parties and organisations belonging to the Barelvi school of thought announced in Lahore that they were forming an alliance against the restrictions on loudspeakers and the arrest of prayer leaders.
Two prayer leaders of Gulzar mosque in the Arambagh area of Karachi were recently arrested under the loudspeaker act but released after religious parties staged a protest.
On March 21, cases were registered against the prayer leaders of two mosques in the Ghas Mandi and Cheel Chowk areas of Lyari. However, nobody was arrested.
Police officials say that it is very difficult to arrest a prayer leader under the new law. “If we arrest someone or register a case against them for violating the law, religious activists start protesting and pressuring us,” said a police officer in the city’s East district.
Civil society activists
Civil society activists say that loudspeakers are misused not only for hate speeches, but to disturb citizens too.
Zahid Farooq, the joint director at the Urban Resource Centre, a Karachi-based civic rights body, said the loudspeaker law was violated at worship places of all faiths, including mosque and churches. “There are normally five or six mosques in an area or four or five churches in a Christian neighbourhood located close to each other and using many loudspeakers for hours throughout the day,” he added.
He recommended that the government should create awareness among the masses about misuse of loudspeakers.
Paryal Maree, a social activist from the Shikarpur district, believes that leaders of jihadists and sectarian groups use loudspeakers to spread hatred against rival sects. “In many cases, we saw loudspeakers playing a key role in a situation growing out of control over sectarian and blasphemy issues,” he added.
Naeem Mughal, the director of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, said sound, after crossing a certain limit, could result health problems including hearing impairment and physiological and heart diseases. He added that prayer leaders deliberately increased the sound of loudspeakers to compete with their rival clerics.