Govt urged to prevent profane sketches contest

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has warned that if Muslim rulers did not discharge their duty to safeguard the sanctity of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the faith in the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat (Finality of the Holy Prophet), they would be doomed in this world and also in the hereafter.

Had the blasphemer Salman Rushdi been promptly punished, nobody else would have dared to indulge in this sin, he said, while delivering Friday sermon at Mansoora masjid. He demanded the government take serious notice of notorious Dutch artist’s announcement of holding the profane caricatures contest, summon Dutch ambassador, lodge strong protest and prevent the proposed contest.

Sirajul Haq said the right of freedom of expression did not mean that any evil minded person and miscreants were permitted to indulge in the blasphemy of prophets. He said by now, it had become inevitable that United Nations must have framed a law declaring the disrespect to the holy personalities an un-pardonable crime. He said disrespect to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was an attack on the centre of the love and veneration of one and a half billion Muslims which was intolerable. He said some people in the country were conspiring to drop Article 295-C of the Constitution at the behest of foreign powers but the nation would not tolerate any such attempt.

Commenting on country’s economic condition, Sirajul Haq said the economy was on ventilator. He said rulers should have bowed before Allah Almighty instead of looking towards the IMF. He said that no one could even think of prosperity of the country in the present system based on interest as it was war with Allah and His Prophet (PBUH). He said past governments had tried dictatorship as well as the so-called democracy which had failed to deliver. He said nation was ready to give sacrifice for the Islamic system and the rulers would have to revert to Allah Almighty, seek forgiveness and adopt the Islamic system without further delay.

Meanwhile, delivering Friday sermon at Masjid Mubarak, JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said a neat and clean system of government led by honest and competent leadership and reliance on country’s own resources was the solution of the problems facing the nation. He said corruption, heavy loans and interest-based system economy were signs of slavery. He said Pakistan had earned a bad name due to corruption and internal tussle between the state and the politicians. He said the government had increased the burden to the tune of 30,000 billion dollars.