We will not allow anyone to seal mosques, JUI-F tells IGP

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Sindh leaders on Thursday said their party and other religious groups and scholars had been cooperating with the provincial government in the joint efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus, but law enforcement agencies still had “sealed mosques, registered cases against pesh imams and handcuffed them”.

A JUI-F delegation led by provincial secretary general Allama Rashid Soomro met Sindh IGP Musthaq Mahar at his office and expressed the party’s concerns over police actions against clerics who had violated the government’s restriction last Friday.

“Acting upon the agreement, mosques’ pesh imams have already limited their prayers, but they cannot stop worshippers from coming to mosques to perform prayers,” Soomro said. “Stopping the worshippers is the state’s responsibility, not of clerics and pesh imams.”

But despite the cooperation with the provincial government, cases were registered against pesh imams and clerics and mosques were sealed on the basis of violating the government’ restriction, the JUI-F leader said.

He warned that his party would not tolerate acts of sealing mosques and registering cases against prayer leaders. However, he appealed to the clerics and pesh imams to limit their Friday prayers in light of directions from religious scholars.

Soomro also demanded of the government to conduct coronavirus tests on members of Tablighi congregations across the province and issue their results immediately. “Among them, arrange quarantine facilities for those who have tested positive for the virus, and the rest of the people who test negative should be allowed to go back to their hometowns in a respected manner,” he said.

According to the JUI-F’s statement, IGP Mahar told the delegation that the party’s cooperation with police in Sindh was very ideal. He said that all cases registered against pesh imams and clerics had been ended and the police force had been trying its best to avoid any untoward incident on Friday.