PUC seeks action against AJC organisers for ‘defaming military, judiciary’

Renowned scholars say participants of Asma Jahangir Conference spread propaganda regarding minority rights in Pakistan

The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) has urged the authorities concerned to take action against the organisers of Asma Jahangir Conference for “defaming judiciary, army and other institutions of the country”.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, scholars belonging to different schools of thought including PUC Chairman and PM’s aide Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, Maulana Asad Zakaria Qasmi, Maulana Noman Hashir, Allama Tahirul Hassan, Maulana Muhammad Aslam Siddiqui and several others accused some of the participants of the conference of distorting facts regarding the rights of minority communities in Pakistan.

All the religious leaders of Pakistan have issued fatwas (religious decree) many times that Islam does not allow forced conversions and marriages and the US assessment of religious freedom in Pakistan is also politically motivated, the scholars said in the statement.

They said that it was not right to link the mistakes of a few individuals with the institutions and to use foul language against the security institutions of the country.

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“In Asma Jahangir Conference, on one hand, a deplorable attitude was adopted against the forces, judiciary and security forces and on the other false propaganda was spread regarding the rights of minorities.”

The deniers of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat (finality of the prophethood) were given free rein to twist the facts of the cases related to the minorities while the Muslim scholars were not invited to the conference to give their opinion, the scholars claimed.

The also appealed the oragnisers — Supreme Court Bar Council and Pakistan Bar Council — to take action against those who spread the “anti-Pakistan propaganda” in the conference.

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The minorities living in Pakistan are safer than minorities in other countries and it is regrettable that the atrocities being committed against marginalised communities in India were not even mentioned in the conference, they said.

“This reveals the real agenda of Asma Jahangir Conference… the individuals who attack ideology of Pakistan and Islamic beliefs were invited to the conference,” the PUC added.

A day earlier, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry chose not to attend the Asma Jahangir Conference in protest against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s address, saying that allowing an absconder to speak along with Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and other judges is akin to contempt of judges and judiciary.

Fawad took to Twitter to announce recusing from the conference being held in Lahore, which a day before had been addressed by CJ Gulzar and several key judges, saying that concluding the conference with the speech of an absconder was contempt of judges and the judiciary.