‘Declare blasphemy international crime’

LAHORE
JAMAAT-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq has said the Muslim rulers, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, can win respect through their expression of love for the Holy Prophet (PBUH), and not through their loyalty to the West and US.
If someone’s sense of religious dignity was not aroused on the heinous crime of blasphemy, he should take care of his faith, he said while delivering Friday sermon at Mansoora.
JI ameer said there was a graveyard-like silence in the corridors of power in Muslim states on the publication of profane sketches in a France journal while the Muslim people had been agitating on roads. He said repeated incidents of blasphemy were part of the Zionists plot to wage a global war on Islam and world peace.
The Zionists, he said, had always been behind the crusades as they had always hatched conspiracies to pit Muslims and Christians against each other. He said the repeated incidents of blasphemy had hurt over one and half billion Muslims in the world, but none of the international bodies, including the UN had raised voice against this. He said Muslims had respect for all the prophets and all the revealed books. He said inter-faith harmony and dialogue was imperative for world peace.
Therefore, blasphemy should be declared an international crime and stringent laws should be made in this regard to check this practice. Condemning the silence of the Muslim rulers on the issue, the JI chief however declared that JI and its like-minded parties would continue their struggle against blasphemy elements until they stopped this unholy practice. He said the Muslims considered it greatest honour to lay down their lives for safeguarding the sanctity of the beloved Prophet (PBUH). He urged all political and religious parties to join at a single platform on the issue of blasphemy.
Meanwhile, Sirajul Haq and JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch condemned the bomb blast at an Imambargah in Shikarpur causing heavy loss of life and expressed their condolences with the bereaved families and prayed for the victims.