ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Sermons delivered in mosques before the Friday prayers will now be recorded by police, it emerged on Sunday.

A source in a law-enforcement agency told Dawn that police officials would be deployed in mosques across the country to film the Friday sermons. The move was aimed at ensuring that hate speeches were not delivered from the pulpit.

Provincial home secretaries and senior officials of the country’s law-enforcement agencies attended a meeting on Saturday to chalk out a strategy to keep close tabs on the Friday sermons — sometimes employed to foment sectarian unrest.

The source said station house officers would give a report on the recorded sermons and speeches to district police officers on a weekly basis.

He added police action could be initiated against those who offend people’s religious beliefs.