Four religious parties join hands against sectarianism in G-B
Four religious parties in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) have joined hands to promote sectarian harmony in the region. They expressed the concern that G-B had become the centre of foreign powers’ attention over the years owing to its geographic location. The decision was taken by the leadership of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), Jamat Islami (JI) and Shia Ulema Council (SUC) during an Iftar dinner held here recently.
“Since the political government has failed to maintain peace, it is now up to the religious organisations to come forward and play their due roles,” said Advocate Mushtaq of Jamat Islami.
Sheikh Nayyar Hussain represented the Wahdatul Muslimeen, while Maulana Maqsood represented JUI-F. Advocate Mushtaq and Maulana Abdul Sami represented JI while Shia Ulema Council was represented by Sheikh Mirza Ali.
The religious parties’ alliance is viewed as the first major breakthrough in the region after the worst sectarian bouts that claimed 23 lives and wounded over 50 others recently.
The clerics decided to form Milli Yakjehti Council to cement ties of the rival sects whose clashes have stalled all development activities in the region. The first meeting of the council has been scheduled for the first week of September.
Abdul Sami said that nefarious designs of the enemies could only be defeated by observing patience and removing mutual mistrust.
The leaders also agreed to use the platform of Milli Yakjehti Council for celebrating religious events jointly in future. Moreover, they decided to form similar setups at district level to forge unity among the followers of respective sects.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2012.
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Well i must say this is a good step but not for long,unfortunately....the four parties mentioned are powerless in this region and the whole power and centre of secterian dilema revolves around two main parties which are anjuman e imamia and sipah e sahaba.......both are banned by the government......and recently two sunnis are killed in gilgit.....
I hope this happens in rest of the country too
@Noise: I used the term khilafat loosely. Theocratic groups want theocracy, just as democratic groups want democracy. So if we let the theocratic groups take over like this, you'll slowly see society decay into one under religious rule.
@Atheist Two groups out of the four mentioned dont believe in the concept of Khilafat (which in effect is simple monarchy). Get you facts right before issuing blanket condemnations.
i hope they keep their words and try their best to keep peace in gb.
Hope to see the same here in Quetta.
Finally some good news