May 03, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, April 2: Policies of Lal Masjid clerics came under fire at a seminar with speakers accusing them of unleashing an onslaught on the liberty of people.

The speakers at a seminar titled “Modern education of Islam and democracy” organised by Pakistan Liberal Forum on Wednesday castigated the baton-wielding men and women of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, respectively, for scaring the people and trying to enforce their version of Sharia.

They stressed that Sharia was not all about punishment and sentences but also about rights of the people and accountability of rulers.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashadi said the policies of Lal Masjid clerics were unacceptable. He lamented that Islamic knowledge and practice had been allowed to lapse into the realm of mysticism and phraseology.

“The great misfortune of the Muslim world has been that so- called scholars and intellectuals of Islam are more interested in merely repeating the perennial truths rather than being interested in construction and perfection of concepts and theories or acquiring knowledge. Islam is not a dogmatic religion as has been made out to be by our half illiterate religious teachers. In fact it raises man from his dogmatic slumber,” he remarked.

He said only political liberalisation and true democracy in Pakistan would strengthen liberal and secular forces and defeat religious extremism. He said if the Muslim world wanted to challenge the unjust international system it could do so only by acquiring knowledge and effecting social reform and political liberalisation. He called for taking a strong moral position against extremists.

Ambassador (retired) Tayyab Siddiqui said there was a need to understand the basis for the creation of Pakistan. He said Pakistan had come into being on the basis of an ideology, promising liberty to all to profess religion. He pointed out that the first law minister of Pakistan was a Hindu.

He said Islam laid emphasis on education and underlined the spirit of enquiry. He said the quest for knowledge in accordance with Islamic injunctions was the way forward for Muslims in this age of digital divide.

He regretted that it had become a fashion to talk about Pakistan with a pessimist approach. He said Pakistan was neither a failed state nor was it a banana republic.

Chairman Pakistan Liberal Forum Asif Khan criticised Lal Masjid clerics for establishing a parallel judicial system and challenging the writ of the government.

He stressed that political stability was a must for national development and promotion of education in the country. He said despite all claims of a literate Punjab, enrolment in schools was declining and claimed that a number of ghost schools were still operating.

He said the appointment of teachers should be strictly on merit, transfers should not be made under political influence and budgetary allocation for education should be substantially enhanced.

Former Adviser to late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Raja Anwar also regretted that efforts were being made by the clerics of Lal masjid to enforce Sharia of their choice in the country. He said the time had come to separate religion from politics.