The Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC) announced on Friday that it will host a two-day international conference on Muslim unity in the federal capital on Sunday.
The move is aimed at forging sectarian harmony across the Muslim world and drawing up the agenda for a united Ummah.
“We hope to devise a strategy to achieve sectarian harmony across Muslim Ummah,” said the MYC chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a former amir of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
“Our rallying cry will be for a modern Islamic education system that would be better than the contemporary western systems,” he said.
Among the luminaries invited to the conference are Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal. Neither of the two leaders have confirmed their participation though.
An MYC official however said that Nasrallah and Meshaal were likely to confirm their participation by Saturday.
The general secretary of the Yakjehti Council, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said that his group had shared with the Foreign Office a list of all the foreign delegates. “It is now the Foreign Offices’ job to grant visas to the delegates,” he said.
Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rehman al Sudais and the veteran leader of All Parties Hurriyet Conference Syed Ali Geelani have also been invited to the conference. However, MYC officials do not expect Geellani to attend the conference as he is currently under house arrest in Indian Kashmir.
Qazi Hussain added that international delegates from different Islamic countries including, Algeria, Tunisia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan and others will also be attending the conference.
Besides, leaders of national religious parties including JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F), Dr Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi and Allama Amin Shaheedi (MWM), representatives of all five Wafaqul Madaris will also participate.
Role in elections
While discussing the elections, Qazi Hussain said that the council will not be a part of the upcoming elections.
Supporting the stance, Secretary General Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that though MYC was a political body as it comprised political parties it would not contest in the elections as a party. However, individuals or parties within the MYC were free to contest the polls.
The former JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed expressed concern over raids being conducted at religious seminaries across the country. He added that a commission under MYC was being established that would urge ulema across the country to discourage all hate material and spread sectarian harmony.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2012.
COMMENTS (3)
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Alims and Maulanas will divide UMMA in 72 factions before the day of resurrection. They are fast dividing Islam and Muslims.
We can expect all liberals to start their naysaying routine soon. Yet these are the things that make me so proud of Pakistan.
“Our rallying cry will be for a modern Islamic education system that would be better than the contemporary western systems”--any comments ? I have no words...