Punjab govt sacks Tahir Ashrafi as Muttahida Ulema Board chairman

The Punjab government on Monday sacked Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) chief Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi from the post of Muttahida Ulema Board chairman.

The provincial government’s Auqaf and Religious Affairs department said in a notification that Ashrafi has been de-notified from the post with “immediate effect” following the approval of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Sahibzada Hamid Raza, the head of Sunni Ittehad Council, has been appointed as the new chairman of the ulema board, according to the notification.

The development came a day after CM Elahi vowed to restore the Seerat Academy and reactivate the Muttahida Ulema Board for the promotion of religious education while speaking to the now ousted chairman Ashrafi in Lahore on Sunday.

Elahi had termed the religious and interfaith harmony as inevitable for the establishment of peaceful society.

The Punjab CM had also pledged to start the MPhil classes at Seerat Academy with the collaboration of Jama-al-Azhar University of Egypt and the Islamic University of Madina.

Ashrafi had ‘appreciated’ the decision of government to pass the Muttahida Ulema Board Act during yesterday’s meeting.