Gag order issued for 13 clerics

The scholars include leaders of ASWJ, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan MWM, TNFJ

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) on Friday barred the 13 firebrand clerics from making speeches in the federal capital for a period of two months.

A notification issued by the Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat pressed the mute button for these speakers considered a risk for peace and harmony.

“I have been informed by the Special Branch of the police that the following persons are sectarian agitators, firebrand speakers and are likely to indulge in sectarian activities,” the DC said in the notification.

The marked religious scholars were likely to deliver provocative sectarian speeches, sermons aiming to create animosity and hatred between various religious sects, which can be prejudicial to the maintenance of public peace and order, the notification said.

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In the current security environment of ICT coupled with threat perception of terrorism, it is feared that any breakdown of law and order due to sectarian violence may be used by terrorist as an opportunity to achieve their objectives, it read.

Therefore, the DC said, with a view to prevent the following ulemas from stirring sectarian strife and resentment, it is necessary to prevent them from delivering speeches and sermons at any public place and religious gathering within the limits of Islamabad district in the interest of public safety.

Among those barred from entering or making speeches in Islamabad include four ulema of Deobandi school of thought, three Barelvi, on from Ahle-Hadith and five from the Shia community.

The Ulema from the Deboand school of thought include Maulana Abdul Aziz the Mohtamim of Madrissa Jamia Hafsa, Mualana Abdul Razzaq Haideri the Khateeb of Masjid Abdullah Bin Masood, G-9 Markaz, Maulana Abdul Rehman Muaviah of the Rahmani Masjid and ASWJ leader, Qari Ahsan Ullah of Masjid Osmania.

The banned Barelvi Ulema include Sunni Tehreek President Qari Wasim Abbasi, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan General Secretary Rizwan Saifi and Maulana Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain Kazmi of Masjid Hanfia at Bari Imam. Among the Ahle Hadith, Allama Muhammad Younas Qureshi the Khateeb of Masjid Alfurqan in Sector G-9 has been barred from making public speeches.

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The Shia scholars stopped from making public speeches include Majlis Wahdatul Muslimin (MWM) Allama Muhammad Amin Shaheedi, MWM General Secretary Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Allama Sheikh Mohsin Ali Najfi the Mohtamim of Madrissa Jamia AhI-e-Bait, Sector F-7; Agha Shifa Najfi the Khateeb of Imambargah Imam Al-Sadiq, and Tehreek-e-Nafaz Fiqah Jafria senior leader Allama Basharat Imami.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2020.