LAHORE: The Muttahida Ulema Board has unanimously decided to cleanse the curriculum of extremist content, says Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday following a meeting of the board, he said the single national curriculum did not have any element of extremism and radicalism. So far, 307 books had been cleared from possible extremist content, he added.

Mr Ashrafi expressed grief over the Sialkot tragedy, stating that the nation as a whole was embarrassed over the incident. He said that teachings of Islam did not allow any such heinous act and the united voice raised by the Ulema in condemning the incident had been heard all over the world.

In response to a question, Hafiz Ashrafi said that if Maulana Fazlur Rehman was expecting to be congratulated on winning the local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he should first congratulate Imran Khan on becoming the prime minister.

Commenting on the Afghanistan situation, he said that it’s the responsibility of all human beings to help the Afghans on humanitarian grounds in the prevailing circumstances. He hoped that aid to Afghanistan would soon begin to flow to alleviate the sufferings of its people.

Mr Ashrafi felicitated the Christian community on the eve of Christmas with the commitment to help avail all facilities to celebrate their festivities.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2021