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| September 21, 2005 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 16, 1426 |
MMA raises mosque issue
LAHORE, Sept 20: The MMA on Tuesday invited attention of the treasury towards Masjid Shaheed Gunj, warning that taking it leniently could cause a tension in Sikh-Muslim relations. Speaking on points or order, Arshad Baggu and Ehsanullah Waqas said the Punjab government had issued an advice for the construction of a Gurdwara at the controversial site of the mosque which could affect Sikh-Muslim ties.
The controversy belongs to pre-partition era as hundreds of Muslims had been martyred while constructing the mosque in 1930.
They sought intervention of the government to stop construction of the Gurdwara there by the International Sikh Federation otherwise, they feared, it could ignite Muslims’ sentiments.
Punjab Auqaf minister Saeedul Hasan said if the place came in the jurisdiction of the Evacuee Trust Board, the mosque could not be constructed there, but if it fell in the purview of the Auqaf department the matter would be sorted out.
Law minister Raja Basharat said he had tried to contact the Auqaf secretary by telephone during the prayer break, but failed. So he sought the chair’s permission for pending the matter till tomorrow (Wednesday).
PPP’s Samiullah Khan, on a point of order, demanded that a tribunal should be set up to check matriculation certificates of Gen Musharraf and other serving and retired generals in the wake of the rejection of nomination papers of ruling PML senior vice-president Lt-Gen Abdul Majid Malik (retired) for Chakwal district nazim as the returning officer found his testimonials “fake”.
“Why only educational certificates of MPs are checked, and the government as well as the press starts maligning him/her in case of possessing bogus degrees. Why not certificates of army officers are examined,” he questioned.
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