Revival of security to religious scholars, seminaries sought

KARACHI: Attack on prominent religious scholar Mufti Mohammad Taqi Usmani near the NIPA Chowrangi on Friday has revived discussion on withdrawing security from influential figures, including prominent clerics, following the orders of the apex court.

Mufti Usmani survived in the assassination attempt as unidentified gunmen opened fire on two vehicles in Karachi, killing two guards and injuring two others. Condemning the attack on Taqi Usmani, leaders of religious parties and madrassa boards said that the Sindh government and police had put the lives of prominent clerics in danger by withdrawing official security from seminaries and clerics.

Qari Muhamamd Usman, the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl’s provincial deputy head, said that religious parties and scholars had been demanding security for their leaders for the past several months but no one was listening to the demand.

“Attack on Mufti Usmani is in fact a conspiracy against Pakistan, its sovereignty and the Islamic world,” Usman said. He criticised the former chief justice for ordering to take back security from religious scholars. “We demand the government to immediately revive the security of religious scholars and depute police personnel on their security,” he said.

Usman said that the Sindh government had formed a committee to provide security to religious scholars but the home secretary Sindh and commissioner Karachi were reluctant to provide security for unknown reasons. “They are equally responsible for the attack,” he told The News.

The Wifaqul Madaris al Arabia (WMAA), a board of Deobandi madrassas, demanded the government and law enforcement agencies to arrest the culprits behind the attack on Usmani. WMAA leaders Maulana Dr Abdul Razzaq Sikandar, Maulana Anwarul Haq,

Maulana Rafi Usmani and Maulana Muhamamd Hanfi Jalandhari in a statement said that the people who ordered to withdraw security from clerics were equally responsible for the attack. “Attack on Mufti Usmani, an uncontroversial religious personality, is a very alarming situation,” they said, demanding the government and law enforcement agencies to arrest the attackers and identify the network behind the planning on attacking the religious cleric. They also demanded to revive security to religious seminaries and scholars immediately.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier the WMAA on March 7 in a statement showed concerns on withdrawing security from seminaries and said that threat to Ulema and madrassas in the province was still there as culprits of the past attacks and other acts of terrorism were still roaming free.

On the same day, students of the Jamia Binoria Al-Alamia had blocked the main road in front of the SITE police station for several hours against the withdrawal of police guards from Mufti Muhammad Naeem and the seminary, as well as of police mobiles from the seminary.