LAHORE, July 3: Religious parties and individuals have criticised a reported homosexuals’ get-together at the US embassy in Islamabad on Saturday and the US administration’s assurance to help them get their rights.

In a statement on Sunday, they called the US encouragement to gay, lesbian and transgender communities a worst “cultural and social terrorism” against the country and urged upon the government to take strict note of the matter, arrest these individuals under the law of the land and proceed against them under the Hudood Law. The US envoy, they said, should be summoned and a strong protest lodged with him on the issue.

Those who singed the statement included Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith chief Prof Sajid Mir, Wafaqul Madaris Secretary-General Qari Muhammad Hanif Jhalandhry, Jamia Ashrafia deputy chief Maulana Fazle Rahim, JUI-S Secretary General Maulana Abdur Rauf, Jamaat-i-Islami Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch and Dr Farid Piracha. The statement said homosexuality was the extreme form of human degradation that invited Allah’s wrath, and all those who wanted to promote this evil in Pakistan were the enemies of this country, the nation and also their own self. The celebration of these people with the US ambassador and the envoy’s assurance to them was tantamount to driving dagger into the hearts of Ummah. — Staff Reporter