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| April 10, 2007 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428 |
Agencies behind Lal Masjid controversy: MMA leader
HYDERABAD, April 9: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leader Maulana Rahat Hussain sees agencies’ hand behind Lal Masjid controversy, which he says may be aimed at preparing ground for action against other madressahs and driving a wedge between different religious parties and ulema.
Speaking to reporters at the press club on Sunday after offering condolences to the club’s president on the sad demise of his sister and a senior journalist late Saleem Qureshi the Maulana who is also senator from NWFP feared that if the issue was not handled carefully it could lead to serious law and order situation.
Ulema did not have any difference of opinion on the enforcement of Islamic laws but they did not support the modus vivendi adopted by Lal Masjid management, he said.
He urged the management of Lal Masjid to join hands with MMA to solve all problems in a democratic manner. Local JUI-F leaders Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, Azam Jehangiri and Khalid Dhamra were also present.
Senior vice president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) and a central MMA Dr. Sahebzada Abdul Khair Mohammad Zubair agreed with Maulana Rahat’s contention that agencies were behind the controversy over Jamia Hafsa.
In a statement faxed to Dawn on Monday he said that it sounded totally incomprehensible and nonsensical that someone should threaten the government with suicidal attacks in a highly sensitive area of Islamabad.
He said that condoning a few maulvis’ extremism and letting them do whatever they liked was itself a proof that the controversy was a brainchild of agencies.
He said that the controversy would help the government divert people’s attention from judicial crises and also prepare ground for taking action against other seminaries.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: Women legislators of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) said on Monday that the rulers were paying only lip service to the women's rights as they had done nothing practical to solve their problems.
Speaking at a news conference at the press club MNA Ms Aisha Munawar and MPA Ms Kulsoom Nizamani called the women’s protection act against the Islamic injunctions and added that the government was promoting obscenity, vulgarity and western culture in the country in the name of enlightenment.
They underlined the problems of Sindhi women and said that they were deprived of health and education facility, Haq Mahar and share in inheritance and the widow and destitute women were left at the mercy of their fate.
Working women were suffering from a sense of insecurity, they said and added that they had moved a number of bills in the National Assembly and senate against the unIslamic customs of karo-kari, marriage with Quran and restrictions on dowry and marriage presents.
They said that a girl’s marriage without her consent was totally unIslamic and pointed out that former husbands often blackmailed women because they could not remarry without producing a divorce certificate
They demanded that the federal Shariat court should be authorised to review family laws in the light of Quran and Sunnah and the issue of women’s share in inheritance should be brought within the ambit of family courts.
They called for deterrent punishment for all the people involved in karo-kari murders.
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