Religious leaders condemn violence, arson

LAHORE: Religious leaders Wednesday continued to condemn violence and arson erupted after the arrest of PTI chief and former PM Imran Khan.

Jamaat-i-Islami ameer Sirajul Haq in a statement said the political parties must stop their workers from violence against the state institutions and arson, destruction of public properties. He said political parties must adhere to political course under all situations, and must not fall into the trap of creating too wide a gap that could not be filled up through dialogue. Sirajul Haq warned that if political parties get trapped into the schemes laid by non political entities they would become the biggest losers. He emphasised that political crises are the basic reason of economic and social devastation, and the politics of hatred never benefited anybody.

Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith vice president and member of Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Dr Abdul Ghafoor Rashid termed the arson and attacks on state institutions a shameful act and said it is not the practice of political parties. He said instead of violence and anarchy, PTI leadership should have restrained the workers from destroying national property which only pleased the enemies like India where joyous response is being displayed.

He said such violence on the arrest of a political leader was unprecedented in history, saying workers of PML-N and PPP also protested against the arrest of their leaders but never damage public properties or took to violence against the state institutions.

Central President of Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (Sawad-e-Azam) Pir Syed Mahfouz Mashhadi termed PTI workers’ violence open terrorism and rebellion. He said such miscreants resorting to terror acts cannot be called political workers, and urged the PTI leadership to stick to political struggle instead of violence and spreading hatred against national security institutions. He said two days of intense violence proved there is no difference between Imran Khan’s PTI and Altaf Hussain’s MQM. He appreciated display of extreme restrain by the army and said it foiled Imran Khan’s plot to make the people fight against the national institutions. He demanded that all criminals should be brought to the book.