KARACHI, March 12: Religious scholars at a conference held here on Saturday night issued a death decree for any blasphemer. The decree (fatwa) has been issued with the signatures of 19 Muftis.

The scholars also rejected the government’s apologetic response to the act of blasphemy on the part of a section of the European press and expressed their dissatisfaction over the role of Muslim rulers viz-a-viz the world-wide reaction in this regard.

Addressing the moot, titled: “Labbaik Ya Rasool-Allah (SAW) Conference, at Nishtar Park, ulema and Mashaikh from across the country made it clear to the infidel elements around the world that the Ummah was fully awake and had taken a firm stand against blasphemy. The Ummah, they said, would not tolerate any obstacle in making the Tahfuz Namoos-i-Mustafa movement a success.

They said that registration of false cases against protesters and their leaders, imposition of ban on demonstrations, arrests, propaganda, and such other tactics could not stop the movement.

The conference, presided over by Pir Mian Abdul Khaliq of Bherchondi Sharif, started at 10pm and continued without any break till 4.30am. Aqil Anjum Qadri and Shabbir Abu Talib conducted the proceedings.

The conference passed more than six resolutions.

Chief of the Supreme Council of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan Sahibzada Shah Mohammad Anas Noorani Siddiqui, in his emotional speech, said “If we do not play our due role in protecting the sanctity of the name and prophethood of Hazrat Mohammad (SAW), we have no right to call ourselves his followers.”

He flayed the government for arresting Muslims on fictitious charges and handing them over to its foreign masters one the one hand, and avoiding the calls for seeking custody of those who were committing heinous crimes against Muslims, on the other.

Terming the movement ‘a warning to the government’, he said that the country had been created in the name of Islam and no system other than the Nizam-i-Mustafa would be acceptable to its people.

Pir Bherchondi Sharif urged all Muslim rulers of the world to demonstrate their commitment with the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by severing diplomatic relations with all the countries patronizing blasphemers.

Prof Shah Faridul Haq said that opponents of the anti-blasphemy movement did not deserve to be called human beings. He said that it was Europe which was responsible for the clash of civilizations. “No one now is in a position to stop the clash.”

Syed Irfan Shah Mashhadi warned that if rights of 1.4 billion Muslims were not recognized, then the entire world would have to face the consequences of the clash of civilizations.

Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair said the government had, on the floor of the National Assembly, declared blasphemy as a ‘common issue’, but stood with blasphemers when the situation demanded action.

Mohammad Abbas Qadri asked the Punjab government to impose a ban on the originally Hindu festival ‘Basant’ instead of banning the Namoos-i-Risalat movement.

Pir Attiqur Rehman Faizpuri described all those involved in an act of blasphemy as ‘terrorists’.

Mufti Mohammad Jan Naeemi, Qari Mohammad Zawwar, Prof Saeed Ahmad Asaad, Allama Jameel Ahmad Naeemi, Mohammad Hashim Siddiqui, Qazi Ahmad Noorani, Mohammad Siddique Rathor, Maulana Abdul Aleem Qadri, Sahibzada Mohammad Ghaus Sabri, Shariq Athar, Dr Jameel Rathor, Abdul Rehman Rajput, Hafiz Basharat Ahmad, Allama Azmat Ali Shah Hamdani, Obaid Noorani, Maulana Ghulam Yasin Golarvi, Pir Abdul Hafeez Bherchondi Sharif and Maulana Rajab Ali were among others who addressed the conference.

Through the resolutions adopted on the occasion, the conference demanded holding of an emergency summit of the OIC; boycott of all products from Denmark, Norway and other countries where blasphemous caricatures were published; and inclusion of blasphemy as a heinous crime in the UN Human Rights Charter and the trial of a blasphemer and his accomplice in the international court comprising Muslim judges.

The resolutions urged the Pakistan government to declare blasphemy as terrorism and to award exemplary punishment to all those involved in the act.

The conference also condemned bombings on religious shrines in Iraq and said that the bombings were the work of US agents.

The conference deplored promotion of obscenity through electronic media and asked Pemra to act against those involved. It also condemned the promotion of Basant celebrations.