Testing times: ‘Exhibition of Indian films, soaps corrupting youth’

Haq says dowry, vani and watta-satta should be abolished.

LAHORE:

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) ameer Sirajul Haq said on Saturday that the World Hijab Day will be observed worldwide on September 4.

He was speaking to journalists after addressing a Hijab Conference organised by Jamaat-i-Islami Women’s Wing. Haq said Pakistan was the second political entity in the world after Medina to emerge as an Islamic polity. He said practices such as vani, watta-satta and dowry had to be abolished. Haq urged the Supreme Court to pass a verdict on the appeal of former JI ameer Qazi Hussein Ahmed against obscenity. He said the exhibition of Indian films and soaps was corrupting the morals of the youth. Haq said divorce rates had been increasing in past years. He said inflation, unemployment and Hindu influences in society had corrupted the institutions. Haq urged the government to prohibit the exhibition of Indian films and soaps. He said the government should ensure that cable operators abide by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) conventions.

Haq said the responsibility for promoting public virtue lay with the government. He said family courts should be made effective to arrest the climbing divorce rate. Haq said more legislation was needed to protect women. He said the government should ensure the implementation of women-friendly laws in accordance with Islam. Haq said special attention should be devoted to increasing the provision of quality primary education. He said separate universities should be established for women.  Haq said working women should be provided opportunities near their residences. He said interest-free loans should be provided to domestic enterprises. Haq said the public was not in favour of military intervention in politics and this was exemplified by the fact that the stakeholders in the political impasse had been striving to prove their innocence regarding efforts to get the army to mediate.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2014.