With the campaign just having started, its not fair to accept the committees to have worked out all necessary details
KARACHI: In his article “Implications of the National Action Plan” (February 25) Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), says, among other things, “The path on which the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Army Chief and the DG ISI are taking the country, it seems that the real solution of the problem is not being sought.” And further down, he says “Sectarian violence that began in the 1980s has now reached its peak. On the one side, if imambargahs and mosques of a religious sect are being targeted in suicide blasts, then on the other side, leadership of other religious sects is being affected by targeted killings. Sacrilegious literature and fiery speeches are considered as the root cause of sectarian violence but in reality, this issue is not so simple.”
The writer hints at the causes of sectarian violence in Pakistan by saying: “There should be no interference in Pakistan from any foreign country and Pakistan should not interfere in the affairs of any other country either”, which is an obvious reference to some rulers of the Middle East, notably those of Saudi Arabia. However, nowhere in his article does he appear to accept the fact that dubious characters among those operating as religious teachers, leaders and scholars bear any responsibility for this state of affairs.
Then he goes on to say, “The NAP seeks to ban the use of loudspeakers and sacrilegious literature, but it seems that those responsible for keeping a check on the sacrilegious content don’t have the knowledge to judge which content can be permitted and which should be banned.” This means that he has a clear understanding of which literature is sacrilegious but gives no indication of any steps taken by the PUC or other religious bodies to check this trend. As for the use of loudspeakers, I think it is allowed only to give the call for prayers and to enable religious sermons to be audible within the mosque. As such, blatant violation of rules prescribed in this regard, have to be dealt with according to law. Now, if some hardship occurs because of a biased attitude of a few persons in enforcing laws relating to the use of loudspeakers, this inconvenience is trivial in comparison with what the masses have had to bear with. The writer says: “The interior ministry constituted a committee, headed by the federal secretary for religious affairs, for reforms in seminaries. But it has yet to define which task will be fulfilled by this committee and how.” Obviously, with the campaign just having started, it is not fair to accept the committees to have worked out all necessary details, especially when, generally speaking, our government officials are not all that efficient.
S R H Hashmi
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2015.
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