Samiul Haq accuses federal, Sindh, Punjab govts of enacting ‘un-Islamic laws’

NOWSHERA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq on Wednesday criticised the federal and provincial governments for enacting what he argued were un-Islamic laws.

He was speaking as chief guest at a meeting of the consultative council of the JUI-S Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter at the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak. He said the passage of a bill by the Sindh Assembly making “forced conversions punishable” was un-Islamic.

He felt the rulers were determined to damage the Islamic identity of the country. The Sindh Assembly had passed a law making “forced conversions” punishable with life sentence and forbidding anyone under the age of 18 from changing their religion. The Sindh government said this was done to protect the minorities in the province.

Samiul Haq said the federal and provincial governments did not care for the feelings of 200 million Muslims in the country and were doing whatever seems right to them.

He said the Punjab Assembly had also passed an un-Islamic and unpopular law "The Protection of Women Against Violence Bill 2015." He maintained that the government had named the Science Department at the Karachi University after a non-Muslim physicist Dr Abdul Salam, who was Pakistan’s first Nobel laureate.

"Honouring an enemy of Islam and Pakistan is an open example of the government’s anti-people policies," he asserted. Going a step further, the JUI-S chief alleged that Dr Abdul Salam was given the Nobel award in recognition of his efforts to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

"Honouring such an unpopular personality is akin to rubbing salt into the wounds of Muslims," he added. The Maulana claimed the sanctity and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was being undermined by the rulers. Criticising the religio-politico parties, scholars and leaders of all schools of thought for their alleged silence over these issues, Maulana Samiul Haq said they were not playing their due role and hesitated from speaking the truth.The meeting decided to reorganise and make functional the JUI-S in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It also announced to hold the Tahaffuz-e-Ulema-o-Madaris conference in Pardah Bagh in Peshawar on January 12. The meeting offered fateha for the departed soul of the father of a party leader from Peshawar Maulana Muhammad Arif and Sheikhul Hadith Maulana Matlaul Noor.