London Ulema for ouster of Punjab law minister

LONDON: Ulema have blamed the federal and the Punjab governments for complete failure to protect the lives of innocent worshippers and the sanctity of sacred Sufi shrines, especially in the Punjab and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

At a press conference here to condemn the terror attacks on Hazrat Ali Hajvery (RA) Data Gunj Bakhsh’ shrine in Lahore, the Sunni Ittehad Council leaders charged the government of not doing anything to curb the sustained terror attacks on shrines and for actively patronising the sectarian terrorist groups in some cases.

Markazi Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat leader Allama Professor Syed Riaz Hussain Shah held the federal and provincial governments responsible for the loss of lives in Lahore and demanded the resignation of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.

“The Punjab government has recently given funds to groups linked with terror activities. The law minister is a supporter of sectarian groups and he has provided them sanctuaries. He must resign if the government is serious in tackling the problem of terrorism,” Professor Shah demanded.

He said the Pakistani government had no strategy to deal with terrorists and it was only concerned with chasing headlines, making false promises but doing nothing to expose those who were involved in terrorism.

He said hundreds of Sunni scholars had been killed and dozens of shrines were destroyed by terrorists and the government knew well who these people were yet it was failing to take action against them.

Sahizaba Ameenul Hasnat said it was sad that the judiciary was allegedly releasing well-known extremists from jails and was failing in its part to give them due punishment to discourage their fellows and future Jihadis.

Representatives from major Sunni organisations from across the UK were present on the occasion and all of them held the government responsible for its failure to provide adequate security to the sacred shrines. They said the government was not acting on intelligence reports, which had clearly briefed that the Sunni shrines were vulnerable to barbaric acts of terrorism.

Those who addressed the press conference included Peer Syed Munawar Hussain Jamaati, Chairman Sunni Itehad Council UK, Qazi Abdul Aziz Chishti, Maulana Bostan Qadri, Hazrat Fiazul Hasan, Peer Zahid Hussain Shah Rizvi, Maulana Yaqoob Chishti, Muzamil Hussain Shah, Allama Sadiq Qureshi, Maulana Arshad Jameel, Haji Hukamdad, Chaudhary Siddique, Maulana Raza Yazadani, Hafiz Muhammad Zaheer, Sahibzada Fazal-e-Karim and many others.

The ulema and community leaders warned the government that things might get out of control if the government didn’t take decisive action against militants and severed its links with the terror groups. They said the attack on Data Derbar had injured the feelings of the Muslims all over the world and it had damaged the image of Pakistan as well. They announced to hold a rally in London next Sunday to show solidarity with the people of Pakistan.