Muharram processions Sit-ins warned in Punjab

LAHORE: The Shia Ulema Council (SUC) reacting to restrictions on Muharram activities and alleged arrests of Shia scholars and Zakireen has threatened to turn mourning processions into sit-ins in the streets of Lahore and block the city if their demands are not met.

Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday, SUC’s Punjab President Sibtain Haider Sabzwari and other leaders alleged that district managements in the province were imposing restrictions on Muharram processions and majalis besides lodging cases against ulema and arresting them. They said principal of Jamia Besat Rajua Sadat Allama Mazhar Husain Kazmi was missing along with a student from Quetta Taftan border since June 28. They said the DCs in many areas have cut short mourning processions and reduced the time of majalis.

They warned that no restriction could be tolerated on Muharram activities which were dearer to the community more than their lives. They threatened to turn mourning processions into sit-ins and block main roads if the restrictions were not lifted and arrested mission persons were not released.

Meanwhile, the Tehrik Nifaz Fiqah Jafaria’s Punjab chapter has also urged the government to refrain from imposing new restrictions on mourning processions and Majalis, warning that it could lead to protests and law and order problems.

Addressing a meeting on Tuesday, TNFJ provincial presidnet Allama Hussain Muqaddasi, Allama Mohsin Ali Hamdani and Syed Hasan Kazmi said the holy month of Moharram was being ushered in the backdrop of incidents of blasphemy against holy figures of Islam which went unnoticed by the governmetn.

Similarly, they said, lawlessness was on the rise due to the working of banned groups under new names. They said the community was prepared to resist all kinds of restrictions on mourning activities and go to every extent to do it freely.