The Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Fiqh-i-Jafria (TNFJ, or Movement for the Enforcement of Jafria Jurispudence) has demanded that school exams be rescheduled and television and radio stations stop airing music or entertainment programmes during the first 10 days of Muharram.
TNFJ leader Agha Hassan Moosvi has come up with a code of conduct for Muharram and the government should enforce it to ensure peace during the holy month, said TNFJ Punjab President Agha Syed Hasan Muqaddasi at a press conference on Thursday.
Elaborating on this code of conduct, Muqaddasi said that the Punjab government should set up an ‘Azadari cell’ in the Home Department to address the issues of Shia mourners during Muharram. TV and radio stations should only air shows relevant to Muharram during the first 10 days of the month, and stop all broadcasts of entertainment and music. Schools must ensure that no exams are scheduled for the first 10 days so young people can participate in religious ceremonies. There must be no load-shedding during this period. All political parties and religious groups must freeze their political activities.
Muqaddasi said that the code included several measures for better security. At the end of processions, instead of everyone leaving at once, participants should leave in groups at staggered intervals. He said that Shia prisoners in Faisalabad Jail were not being allowed to perform their religious rites and this was discrimination. He condemned the attack on Shias in Karachi on the first of Muharram, as well as the Nato attack in Mohmand Agency. TNFJ district president Ghulam Hassan Bhatti, speaking to The Tribune, said that the government must stop inviting banned outfits to meetings between officials and religious leaders that are held before Muharram each year.
“They should not be invited alongside legitimate groups like ours. Either lift the ban or enforce it,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2011.
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Its good to see Shia expressing their needs & rights to mourn during this holy month.. however what has that got to do with what is aired on TV channels or radio? Why do they watch TV or listen to radio..they should just turn them off! Second thing is.. blocking of entire streets.. traffic diversions are very inconvenient for the general public...can't they carry out their mourning in the privacy of their own homes?? This similarly done by Sunni, Christian, Hindu and people of other faiths.. so I'm sure the Shia people will find this more suitable and convenient too!
With all due respect: Some of it make sense to me. Specialy the meetings with ban outfits, the Azadari dept, the prisoners' rights, the school exam schedule. Other demands are little complicated in a Majority Sunni Country for the longterm peace. I mean what about the. FreeDom of expression for all? I fear the Talabanism might be the result of Irani Revolution. Have you given it a thought?