PUC chair condemns attack in Brussels

‘Clerics should’ve been on board when drafting Women Protection Act’

FAISALABAD: Those responsible for murdering innocent people at the Brussels Airport in Belgium have nothing to do with Islam, Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said during a press conference at Jamia Qasimia on Tuesday. “We condemn the heinous attack.”

He was joined by several clerics including Sahibzada Zahid Mahmood Qasmi, Pakistan Ulema Council central secretary general, Sahibzada Faiz Rasool, Jamia Muhaddis-i-Azam Sunni principal, and Mufti Yasin Zafar of Jamia Salfia.



Ashrafi said that the Women Protection Act (WPA), passed by the Provincial Assembly, was neither unconstitutional nor against the spirit of Islam. “We only have a few reservations pertaining to some clauses of the law which the government should look into.”

Ulema and muftis will share their opinions about the law before the Ulema Committee and government representatives in Lahore on March 24.

He said that Islam gave women rights and prohibited any kind of violence. “No person can use Islam to justify violence against women.” He urged the government to remove some controversial clauses from the Women Protection Act by taking the religious scholars into confidence.

Several injured in explosions at Brussels airport

“If the government had taken religious scholars on board while drafting the Women Protection Act, such a situation could have been avoided.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd,  2016.