Qadri urges ulema to maintain harmony

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri has advised ulema to work towards maintaining interfaith harmony in the country.

Addressing the “Milli Irtebat” conference in Lahore on Sunday, the minister urged the religious scholars to not become a part of “dirty politics of those who were running a campaign against national institutions in the name of ‘vote ko izzat do’”.

Qadri observed that anyone using a foul language against the army chief was, in fact, abusing the institution. He observed that the “vote ko izzat do” campaign was “designed in New Delhi and reached Pakistan via London”.

He stressed that the Pakistan Army was the protector of the country and that nobody would be allowed to insult it in any manner. Qadri called upon the ulema to work jointly to empower the country and urged the nation to be strong in all the sectors especially in economy if they wanted to defend the religion with full force.

He recalled that only two leaders from the Muslim world – Prime Minister Imran Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – had raised their voice against the French president on his statements over the blasphemous sketches issue. “It is the need of the hour that the West should be made to realise that freedom of speech and insult to religion of two billion people are two different things,” he said.

The minister reiterated that it was the responsibility of the ulema to foil the plans of those who had been hatching conspiracies against the country as such nefarious designs had provided an opportunity to the enemy to destroy countries like Iraq, Libya and Syria. “Ulema should now work to eliminate or reduce differences among different sects and make them united,” he said.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)