Park in Bannu closed after ulema decision

BANNU: The Family Park was permanently closed following a decision of the committee of Ulema and Aima in the district on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, patron-in-chief of the Ulema and Aima or prayer leaders’ committee, Maulana Hafiz Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi said that the decision to shut the Family Park was taken after thousands of people from all walks of life, including Ulema, students, traders, lawyers, journalists and others, took to the streets to protest the obscenity at the recreational facility.

Flanked by Mufti Azmatullah, Khateeb Jamia Masjid Mangal Mela Maulana Ahmadullah Haqqani, Hafiz Nizamuddin and others, he said that the committee members met the Bannu Cantonment Board authorities to seek their support for closure of the park.

He said that the officials endorsed the decision as per the Pashtun culture and the teachings of Islam to shut the Family Park permanently.

He thanked cantt authorities for their support to the people’s demands.

Maulana Hafiz Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi said that elders and youths of the city and elsewhere in the district fully supported the closure of the Family Park where obscenity was spreading.

He demanded the authorities to quash cases against those, who had staged protest rallies against the ‘immoral’ activities in the park and had demanded its closure.

The Maulana said that elders and youths of Ahmadzai and Uthmanzai from Bannu City, Kasho Pul, Link Road, Bakakhel, Baba Sahib Mazar and elsewhere in the district had launched a crusade against the obscenity, usury and drugs peddling.

Therefore, he said the district administration should come forward and support the initiatives of the elders and youths of Ahmadzai and Uthmanzai tribes. He threatened to launch a stronger protest movement if the administration tried to implicate the elders and youths in fake cases.