LAHORE, Aug 2: District Nazim Amer Mahmood offered amnesty on Friday to those involved in the theft of a pair of slippers attributed to Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) should they voluntarily return the holy relic.

He also announced a prize and offered protection for anyone providing information leading to its recovery.

The Nazim made the offers while speaking at the Pakistan Solidarity Conference organized by the Auqaf Department at the Badshahi Masjid here. He justified the amnesty offer by saying those involved might have been motivated by devotion to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

He ruled out the possibility of the holy relic having been left at Brunei. It had been dispatched there on a request by the Sultan under tight security and restored to the specified place on its return. The Archeology and Customs Departments, as well as the Auqaf Department, had checked the holy relics before being dispatched to Brunei and on their return.

Auqaf Minister Mufti Dr Ghulam Sarwar Qadri, Law Minister Rana Ijaz Ahmad Khan, Revenue Minister Malik Muhammad Aslam, Auqaf Department secretary Shafiq Bokhari, Dr Tahir Raza Bokhari, Pir SA Jafri, Qazi Zaman Khan Abbasi, Mufti Abdur Rashid, Syed Waqar Hasnain Naqvi, Rai Zafar Ali, Munawwar Abbas Alvi, Qari Abdus Salam and Abdul Khabir Azad regretted attempts by some politicians to gain political mileage out of the incident.— Reporter