In the name of God: Religious leaders urge end to Karachi mayhem

Ask army to play its role in curbing targeted killings in metropolis.

KARACHI: Religious leaders have strongly condemned the continuous killings in Karachi and demanded that the army play its role in curbing the carnage in the metropolis.

They urged social and political organisations to come forward in this regard. They said that the killings seem to be happening on the whims of the government and questioned the silence of the Chief Justice.

There is no one who could stop the killers, nor is there any arrangement to punish the people involved in atrocities.

Addressing a joint press conference at the office of Khatam-i-Nabbuwat at Old Numaish, prominent religious leaders including Shaikul Islam Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Mufti Muhammad Naeem, Qari Muhammad Usman, Maulana Tanveerul Haque Thanvi and Maulana Muhammad Yousuf Qasoori warned the miscreants to stop the killings.

They said that the Prophet (pbuh) has held the life of a Muslim more sacred than the Holy Ka’ba and killing an innocent Muslim is a crime bigger than demolishing the Holy Ka’ba.

They said that the worst kind of violence has pushed not only the people of Karachi but the whole country into agony and restlessness. Residents of Karachi are compelled to spend their lives in fear as even those with no political or ethnic affiliations are suddenly kidnapped and tortured. Buses full of passengers have been burnt and the chain of barbarism seems to have no end.

They said that the administration, including the police and the Rangers, are playing the role of silent spectators and the terrorists have been given a free hand. This situation will worsen, they said, if the people and the army did not fight jointly.

“We urge every patriotic circle to realise the severity of the situation and play their role,” they said. “First of all we appeal to those who are poised to take each other’s lives to have the fear of God as Quran holds killing any innocent man equal to killing the whole of humanity. The killers will find their place in hell.

“We appeal the warring groups in the name of God and The Prophet (pbuh) to look at what they are doing and avoid such actions as they invite the wrath of God,” they added.

All the Muslims and the well-wishers of the country, whatever their differences, “are passengers of the same boat” and they should sort out their grievances through mutual dialogue and patience, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd,  2011.