Rising incidents of abuse and harassment: PUC seeks tough action by govt, judiciary

ISLAMABAD: Leading clerics and Muftis from across the country have slammed the rising incidents of child abuse and harassment against women in the country and said that the prime minister and Chief Justice of Pakistan should take immediate action against the culprits and order speedy trials and punishments in public.

Leading Ulema, Mashaykh and Muftis, following a consultative meeting, which was held here on Sunday under the aegis of Pakistan Ulema Council, issued a joint declaration stating that all sections of the society must play their role to save the moral values of Pakistani society. “The rules of Islamic Shariah are clear for both men and women and it is obligatory on both men and women to cover themselves properly and avoid obscenity and nudity,” they said.

The Ulema, Mashaykh and Muftis said the Islamic Shariah does not allow a man to touch or harass a woman. “Nor does Islamic Shariah allows a woman to wear inappropriate clothing that does not cover her properly,” they said.

In a joint statement issued after the consultative meeting organized by the Pakistan Ulema Council, Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, Maulana Asad Zakaria Qasmi and other Ulema and Mashaykh said in a joint declaration that the rising incidents of abuse and harassment with boys and girls and the state of fear and intimidation towards women demand from all sections of the society, especially the government and judiciary, to ban and close all such sources responsible for spreading obscenity and nudity in the society.

The leading Ulema said that PEMRA, PTA and the Ministry of Information should close all such websites, pornography and nudity programs and advertisements on social media and perpetrators should be publicly punished through speedy trial.

They said in the joint declaration the Government of Pakistan and the judiciary of Pakistan must play an immediate role in this regard. “All sections of the society have to play an immediate role at their respective levels for restoration of social and moral values in the society,” they said.

The leading Ulema and Muftis asked for strict action against all the instances i.e. Minar-e-Pakistan, Noor Muqaddam case, rickshaw-going girls, Madaris, schools or colleges. "Wherever there are incidents of abuse and harassment, the culprits should be punished."

Meanwhile, talking to the media, Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council and Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Pakistan for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said that if a girl is abused in a seminary in Rawalpindi, then silence cannot be maintained. "It is a crime just like any other crime. It does not matter, the perpetrator belongs to which class, he is a criminal and he should be punished,” he said.