Action against seminaries in the garb of law to be resisted: Fazl
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KARACHI: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Friday warned that any attempt to target religious segment of society in the garb of certain laws would face resistance.
Action against seminaries and clerics would not be accepted, he said while addressing a big rally titled “Tahaffuz-i-Harmain Sharifain” held on M.A. Jinnah Road by his party.
He also called for “every possible” support and assistance to Saudi Arabia if its sovereignty came under attack from Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
“It’s a so called 20-point agenda of the National Action Plan to fight terror and we believe that the entire objective of the exercise is to target religious segment of the society,” he said.
“The nation cannot be fooled any more. These laws are discriminatory which are against Islamic institutions, our clerics and our seminaries. We don’t accept them,” he said while referring to the 21st Constitutional Amendment.
He said the JUI-F would stick to its ideology which demanded true Islamic democratic values to run the government affairs and criticised the authorities for “using the parliament” to legislate laws that defied Islamic values and institutions.
“We know that there is a campaign under way to turn this Islamic republic [Pakistan] into a secular or liberal state, but we will not let this happen. We are well aware of our values and roots and no one will be allowed to defy these values only to appease the West and global powers,” he said.
The Maulana also referred to the majority of political parties’ stance on the Yemen crisis, saying that his and other religious parties came up with the same stance in 2001 when Pakistan and other Islamic states had sided with the world powers for war in Afghanistan.
“We request them to review their policy and don’t take that war as their own one,” he said. “As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, every Muslim sees it as his duty to protect its sovereignty.
We must be prepared for every sacrifice and assistance to protect Harmain Sharifain.”
Published in Dawn May 2nd, 2015
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