LAHORE: Religious scholar Dr Khalid Zaheer has called for taking over of all mosques by the state to check spread of sectarianism through sermons being delivered there.

Talking at a ThinkFest session on Jihad and Dawah here on Sunday, he said the menace of sectarianism was not found in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia only because the mosques in both the countries were state-controlled and could not be used for provocative speeches.

He said the issue was directly related to the country’s security and the state must have to take a decision on it.

With reference to use of objectionable language by religious orators like Khadim Rizvi of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), he also demanded prescribing a “minimum level of decency” for those who speak publicly.

Noted lawyer Salman Akram Raja differed with the proposition that illiteracy and poverty were to be blamed for rise of extremism in the country. He argued that extremist ideologies were formed by educated people like Prof Hafiz Saeed. He said it was important to check what’s being taught.

An intellectual from UWA, Australia, Samina Yasmeen said a major shift in the ideology of Jamaatud Daawa, which had been promoting Afghan and Kashmir Jihad until 9/11, came after 2001, when Dawah (invitation to Islamic teachings) dominated its Jihadist approach in the changing geo-political situation.

She said it was not just a male-specific project, rather women and children were also made part of it as ideological story books for children emerged in that period.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019