Ulema vow to highlight importance of Covid vaccine

The Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony on Wednesday convened a conference to seek cooperation of all Ulema and Mushaikhs for creating awareness among the masses about Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The confab, chaired by President Dr Arif Alvi, was held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad, which was attended by governors of different provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan and leading religious scholars from all the four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK.

The Ulema from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, G-B and AJK participated via video link. The AJK president and Ulema attended the conference from Aiwan-e-Sadr Muzaffarabad.

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Before the conference, President Masood in a message said that the process of vaccination against Covid-19 in AJK is being completed expeditiously and so far more than 200,000 citizens have been vaccinated, which is 8% of the population.

He said that the coronavirus positivity rate in Azad Kashmir has dropped from the highest peak of 20% to 6.52% and “the time is not far when we will get rid of this pandemic completely”.

He went on to say that the unity showed by the religious scholars in AJK, who put aside their petty differences and shouldered the state, is a shining example of the national solidarity. 

Representing the Ulema and Mashaikhs of AJK, Secretary Religious Affairs Dr Idrees Abbasi, prominent scholar and member of the Islamic Ideology Council Mufti Kifayat Hussain Naqvi and Maulana Altaf Hussain Saifi said that by the “grace of Almighty Allah, the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan and AJK is declining”.

They assured the government of Pakistan and the federal ministry of health that as in the past when all religious institutions including mosques and madrassas had taken precautionary measures against coronavirus and cooperated with the state government during the lockdown, they will demonstrate the same spirit for convincing the people to get themselves vaccinated for the complete eradication of the pandemic.

The AJK scholars suggested that the country's leading scholars and spiritual figures with authentic religious credentials should get themselves vaccinated and their willingness for vaccination be widely publicised in order to encourage others to follow them. 

They expressed their confidence that AJK with the highest literacy rate will maintain its traditions to be in the forefront in the vaccination process as well.

Addressing the conference, Mufti Kifayat Hussain Naqvi lauded the untiring efforts of President Alvi and said he had convened the first conference of Ulema on March 26, 2020, and since then he is constantly striving to create national unity and solidarity and to gain the support of the Ulema for which he “deserves our tributes and appreciation”.