Sectarian harmony: Religious scholars gather to discuss Middle East situation

The MQM organised an event to bring together Sunnis and Shias to unite against ‘conspiracies’

KARACHI: The government must be impartial on the rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, said a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader on Monday.

At a gathering of religious scholars from Sunni and Shia sects organised by the party at the Lal Qila ground, Rabita Committee member Abdul Haseeb stressed that Pakistan should act impartially. “In the wake of the changing situation in the Middle East and its likely implications in Pakistan, all the sects and scholars should come together and unite,” he said.

The party said that the aim of the event was to unite the Muslim ummah and promote interfaith harmony amongst communities. Religious scholars including Abbass Kumaili, Maulana Asad Deobandi and Allama Syed Waqar Hasan Naqvi, were present at the occasion, where the party chief spoke to them.

The clerics observed that conspiracies were being hatched to create differences amongst the sects and criticised the Pakistani government for remaining silent over them. They also said that, other than the MQM, no political party has raised its voice against these conspiracies.

The party, referring to the Soviet-Afghan war, said that Pakistan was dragged into it, to which a cleric replied that Muslims were often being used by western countries for their own purposes.

Cleric Rashid Qadri said that Saudi Arabia made an alliance of 34 countries to safeguard its supremacy, and for its own advantage, to which the participants raised their hands and declared that Pakistan should not be part of this.

During the gathering, were pledged by the scholars that the Shias and Sunnis would not fight each other in Pakistan.