23 March 2004	Tuesday	01 Safar 1425

KARACHI, March 22: Experts at a seminar, organized by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, on Monday spoke about contemporary medical issues and Islam.

Former religious affairs minister Dr Mehmood A. Ghazi said that transplantation of body organs was allowed unanimously by all experts of Islamic jurisprudence if it was not done on a commercial basis, no disrespect was shown to the body of the donor and permission of the relatives was obtained.

Speaking about family planning, he said there is a Quranic verse that said that people should not kill their children for fear of starvation.

"There are many issues involved. First of all, a lot of people go for family planning not for fear of starvation. My opinion about the matter is that individuals should have the freedom to decide whether they want to opt for family planning or not," he said.

The vice-chancellor of Rifah University, Prof Anis Ahmad, said difference of opinion could exist between various experts of Islamic jurisprudence. "It is no use trying to eliminate these differences. For instance, there are many differences between exponents of different sects," he said.

Answering a question, he said that there was nothing wrong with pre-marriage counselling. About cloning, the president of the 52-country Federation of Islamic Medical Association, Prof Aly A. Mishal, said that the success of cloning of the sheep 'Dolly' in 1997 heralded a worldwide tremor and controversy.

"In the Islamic world, the widespread interest in this issue was reflected in many seminars, discussions, commentaries and Fatwa rulings. In the non-Muslim world, legislation and regulations were adopted in several countries, ranging from illegalization of research in human cloning to prohibition of governmental funding for such research."