KARACHI: Ulema asked not to stir up sectarian feelings
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 5: Religious leaders from different schools of thought, during their meetings with Governor Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar on Friday night and Saturday, pledged to help the authorities maintain peace in Sindh.
The religious leaders were told on the occasion that strict action would be taken against any leader who indulged in inciting people to violence. The ulema and officials condemned as ‘terrorism’ the carnage in Quetta which claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people.
The ulema on the occasion demanded that all possible steps be taken to arrest the perpetrators of the attack.
They assured the governor and chief minister that leaders of all the sects would cooperate with the authorities in this regard. They demanded of the government to pay compensation to the families of those died in the attack as soon as possible.
According to a joint communique issued after their meeting with Governor Ishratul Ibad — which began at 11pm on Friday and ended at 1.30am on Saturday — the religious leaders pointed out that the attack in Quetta was the fourth violent incident that took place in Balochistan in a month.
They recalled that some trainee policemen had been killed recently in the province. Investigations into this bloody incident were yet to reveal the names of the people behind the dastardly attack, they said.
Expressing solidarity with all the sects, the ulema declared that they would work jointly to thwart the aims of the anti-Pakistan elements who wanted to create disharmony and discord among the population.
They said nobody would be allowed to create misunderstandings and hatred among the people in Sindh. The federal and provincial governments were urged to eliminate “religious terrorism”, extremism and sectarianism.
In his meeting with the ulema on Saturday, meanwhile, the chief minister announced that a committee would be constituted which would help keep peace in the province. The committee is to be headed by the provincial minister for religious affairs.
All the sects would be represented in the committee which would prepare, within a week, a report detailing the recommendations of various sects.
The CM made it clear that action would be taken against those religious leaders making derogatory and controversial statements in their speeches. He asked City Nazim Naimatullah Khan to get all graffiti, which could spread hatred among the people, removed.
Mr Mahar declared that the people involved in putting up hateful and derogatory slogans would be arrested and appropriate action would be taken against them.
He added that the police would continue to guard the mosques and other holy places in the province. He asked the chief secretary and the IG of police to form committees at the lower levels, too.
The CM urged the ulema present to promote feelings of brotherhood. Several senior officials attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, condemning the Quetta killings in his meeting with the Punjab Governor, Gen Khalid Maqbool, at a luncheon, Governor Ishratul Ibad said that prompt and appropriate measures were taken to prevent a flare up in Sindh, adds APP.
The Punjab governor appreciated his counterpart for the measures. Dr Ibad, he said, on receiving the reports from Quetta, started efforts for the maintenance of law and order in Sindh. He said similar steps were also being taken in Punjab.
Terming extremism ‘a extremely serious’ problem, Gen Maqbool called for a long struggle to combat it. He hoped that people would understand these conditions and not allow any opportunity to the anti-state elements.
Dr Ibad said that he had held a meeting with ulema of different schools of thought and that there was a consensus among them that the designs of terrorist, anti-state and anti-Islam elements should be thwarted.
The ulema, he said, conveyed a message of patience, tolerance and cohesion to the masses. He said that joint efforts by the government and all segments of society would continue for peace and harmony.
