LAHORE: Secretary General, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Liaquat Baloch on Friday said that the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance and the security policy were a conspiracy to turn Pakistan into a secular country.

Addressing a convention of the Jamiat-i-Talaba Arabia in Lahore, he said that the secular lobby in the country was out to shake the foundations of the mosques and the madrassahs to fulfill a western agenda.

He said it was unfortunate that the secular elements were working so openly under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

However, he said that the Pakistani Muslims would defend the Islamic ideology, the mosques and the madrassahs at every cost.

The JI Secretary General said that the madrassahs, the mosques and the pulpit were the strongest fortresses of the Pakistan ideology and the movement for the enforcement of the Islamic system, and the government should allow them to perform their religious duties independently.

Baloch said that instead of interfering in the working of the mosques and madrassahs, the government should take note of the destruction of the education system in the universities and colleges along with the free mixing of the genders at educational campuses which, according to him, leads to immoral practices.

The society, he said, was badly suffering from chaos, disruption and extremism.

He said that Islam is the religion of love and peace but disruption was the outcome of the rulers drifting away from the objectives of the creation of Pakistan.

He said the Tahafuz-i-Pakistan Conference being organised by the JI in Karachi on the 23rd of March would be a historic event.

The Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) which Liaquat Baloch criticised, is seen by many as a draconian law.

Critics say in its present shape the law gives powers to security agencies to infringe the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under the constitution.

Others say that it will lead the country to the path of becoming a ‘security state’.