Clerics warn against secularisation

LAHORE
Heads of different religious parties have warned against a move to secularise the country in violation of the Pakistan ideology and imposing restrictions against religious parties, seminaries and social welfare organisations, and threatened that it would evoke serious reaction from the society.
Addressing an All Parties Conference (APC) on Tuesday, held at the Lahore Press Club under the aegis of World Pasban Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (WPKN), they condemned the government for not withdrawing the notification of coverage ban against religious parties.
The APC was chaired by Pir Salman Munir, custodian of Sambrial Sharif shrine while noted speakers included WPKN chief Allama Mumtaz Ahmad Awan, Ahle Hadith leader Allama Zubair Ahmad Zaheer, trader leader Sh Naeem Badshah, Pir Waliullah Bukhari, JI Punjab naib ameer Javed Kasuri, Allama Shoaibur Rehman, JUP leader Mufti Mufti Ashiq Hussain, Majlis Ahrar leader Maulana Yusuf Ahrar, Maulana Rajeeullah Khan, Prof Farooq Saeedi, Tehreek Hurmat Rasool leader Ali Imran Shaheen, JUI-F leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Fiqah Jafaria leader Waqarul Hasnain Naqvi, Jamiat Ahle Sunnat leader Qari Hanif Haqqani, Allama Ziaur Rehman Farooqi, Pir SA Jafri, and others. They condemned the policy of secularising the country and warned that it was an open violation of Pakistan Movement and the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and other founding fathers. They expressed sorrow that moves of secularising the country had already been underway for a long time which was evident from the removal of several Islamic topics from the syllabi, putting restrictions and harassing the seminaries, and threatening the NGOs known for their invaluable social welfare and relief activities by imposing a ban on their media coverage.
They warned that if Pemra notification against the ban on religious parties' activities was not withdrawn the religious parties would be forced to launch a protest campaign across the country. They warned of moving the courts against the ban if it was not lifted immediately.
Propaganda: Leaders of different religious parties have warned that the propaganda of ISIS taking roots inside Pakistan was a conspiracy to step up the crackdown against religious parties, adding that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam and religious parties.Addressing a seminar on promoting unity among the Muslim Ummah on Tuesday held under the aegis of Aalmi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat (AJAS), the leaders strongly condemned the terror attacks on innocent people anywhere in the world and Pakistan, and said that it was time that all schools of thought should get united to counter enemy conspiracies and uproot the menace of terrorism and extremism.
The seminar was addressed by Pir Shahid Hussain Gardezi, Pir Mustafa Ashraf Rizvi, Pir Amir Chishti, Ahmad Shakil Siddiqi, Mufti Ghulam Hasan, Maulana Muhammad Ashraf, Mufti Muhabbat Ali Rizvi, Allama Asif Attari, Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad, Maulana Tufail Noori and others.
Shahid Gardezi said that all religious parties would observe a 'Unity Among Ummah Day' on Friday (November 27) and deliver special sermons in Friday prayers for promoting the cause of Ummah’s unity to counter the enemy conspiracies. He also demanded rulers to call an emergency meeting of all Muslims rulers in Islamabad to set up an International Unity of Ummah Council for promoting consultation and coordination among the Muslim world to frustrate enemy designs and forge unity in its ranks to counter terrorism and extremism.
Other speakers stressed that enemies of Islam had succeeded in creating strong division among different schools of thought in Pakistan. They warned that Islam was being portrayed as a religion of terror as against the fact that it was the religion of peace and had strict code of protecting the innocent even during the war.