JUI-F decries imams’ arrests

The Jamiat-e-Ulam Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Sunday expressed concerns over the fresh wave of the arrests of imams and clerics in Karachi’s various neighbourhoods.

The party also expressed anger over the handcuffing of imams when they were presented before the court. The party said that instead of cracking down on religious scholars, the Sindh government should focus on its responsibilities to curbing the coronavirus spread and providing relief to the needy people affected due to the lockdown.

Qari Muhammad Usman, a JUI-F central leader, said that after consultations between the government and religious scholars, a national-level agreement was inked for holding the religious congregations with implementing the 20-point SOPs.

The plan for preventing the worshippers from attending the prayers at mosques failed and, therefore, the strategy to allow worshippers by adopting safety measures, such as keeping distances between the rows during the prayers, was formed after consultation, he said.

“But the Sindh government wants to sabotage the consensus by resuming the arrests of imams and presenting them before the court like criminals,” Usman said, while talking to a delegation of the office-bearers of various madrassas and mosques.

He said that asking doctors to hold press conferences were part of the conspiracy against the consensus between the government and the religious scholars. “We have several times told the government and the police that stopping the worshippers from coming to the mosques is the responsibility of the state, not the duty of imams,” he said.