Educate women to end violence: Ashrafi

Ashrafi says illiteracy among women is rooted in a feudal culture.

MULTAN: Pakistan Ulema Council chief Tahir Ashrafi on Tuesday stressed the need for educating women to eradicate incidences of violence against them. He was speaking to reporters in Muzaffargarh. Ashrafi dispelled the notion that religious leaders were indisposed towards educating women and said this was rooted in feudalism. He said some landlords had used some clerics to entrench their hold over certain areas.

Ashrafi said the council had decided to be a party to prosecution of every crime against women in Pakistan. He said the PUC would register an FIR in this regard if no one else had the courage to approach the law enforcement agencies. Ashrafi said the council would dispel the notion that it was against women education and would ensure that victims of violence were looked after in every way. He said members of the PUC would also ensure that the affected women were provided with adequate security.

He said the council had decided to contest all forthcoming elections. Ashrafi said members of the PUC would contest from constituencies across Pakistan and unite all the religious leaders of the country. Ashrafi said Islam taught respect for the beliefs of other people. He said the teaching was binding. He said understanding the basic tenets of Islam was vital in this regard as it would enable them to practice these teachings.

Ashrafi said if leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had siphoned billions of rupees and were holding them abroad then the leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had not fared much better. He said the national economy had lost billions due to the party’s sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk and its nation-wide protests. He said the political system of the country should not be subject to the whims of one person. Ashrafi said the  political system should be revamped to ensure that timely justice was dispensed to the people.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2014.