Hit and miss : Some political circles support shoe-throwing

Say it is the way of the people to express their frustration

LAHORE: Although the trend of hurling shoes at politicians was highly condemned by most circles, some religious parties believed it was simply a manifestation of the aggression of common people.

Addressing the Ulema Mushikh Conference on Wednesday on Airport Road, Maulana Ashraf Asif Jalali, the patron-in-chief of Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, said that shoe hurling was the response of common people.

He stated that the government continued to hurt the religious sentiments of society. “It should not be condemned as the rulers are involved in amendments to the blasphemy law,” he continued.  “It is a response to continuous aggression against religious sentiments” he said. The TLYR chief stated it was high time religious tolerance was implemented in society.

He said they attempted to change article 295C and tried to hide the criminals who were involved in changing blasphemy laws.



“The situation of this society is like fireworks. They should respect the religious sentiments of common man,” he urged.

Sarwat Ijaz Qadri, the head of Sunni Tehrik (ST), said that these shoes were not hurled to gain political mileage, but to protect sacred emotions.  Qadri added that these actions were led by their consciousness and not spurred on by anyone.” He added that even if the rulers hang shoe throwers in public, there was no guarantee that such incidents would not take place in future. He continued that “unity was our priority and the government must act responsibly”.

On the occasion, Advocate Malik Tabe Nawaz, Mufti Muhammad Waqar Madni, Maulana Tahir Iqbal Chatti and Maulana Muhammad Maqsood Rizvi were also present.

On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Secretary General, Liaqat Baloch condemned the hurling of shoes and the ruling party should abandon the policy of confrontation as it would destroy the whole set up.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2018.