Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) on Thursday issued a religious decree declaring casting of vote as a religious responsibility and restraining any section of society including women from casting vote is not permissible in Shariah.
The 40-page Fatwa or religious decree was announced by the PUC chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi during a conference which was attended by representatives of various religious groups, political parties, religious-cum-political parties and members of the minorities of the country.
Ashrafi said that the religious scholars after intensive efforts have issued a 40-page Fatwa in which they have unanimously termed casting of vote as religious responsibility. He also clarified that the religious groups were being blamed for stopping the women from casting vote. However, he said that it was not the religious groups, but the feudal and land lords who for their vested interests, are stopping women from exercising their right to vote.
He said that women should be given the right to vote, but it becomes responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to depute female staff at the polling stations where women are supposed to cast their votes. Ashrafi said that a system exists in the country for casting vote by the women. He said the women must be provided respectable environment for casting their votes. He said that misusing the name of Islam should be stopped immediately.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Sami-ul-Haq endorsed the right to vote of very citizen including the women. He said casting of a vote for a genuine and credible candidate is the proof to express confidence in the candidate's abilities to serve the masses and Islam. The JUI-S chief further said that he has also appealed the religious clerics to highlight the importance of casting vote during their Friday sermons so that the masses should vote for the credible and sincere people.
According to the decree, a woman can cast her vote in light of the interpretation of Islamic laws by the top religious scholars. It expressed the confidence that a better leadership would emerge out of forthcoming elections if people of Pakistan exercised their right to franchise without any pressure‚ coercion and expediencies.
It also called establishing separate polling booths for women, saying women enjoy equal right to vote as men, adding the polling staff should be only female besides ensuring there will be no 'Na-mehram' in the premises of the polling area.
The clerics also warned that 52 percent population will be deprived of their right to vote if women are debarred from voting as well their presence in parliament will also be affected. A joint statement was also issued at the end of the conference, condemning the killing of people in Quetta‚ Abbas Town in Karachi and Joseph Colony in Lahore and requested the government to arrest the culprits and give them exemplary punishment.
The statement said those who support such kinds of behaviour or acts are neither Muslims nor Pakistanis. It said people in Pakistan and all the Muslims living in the country have decided to abandon those who were involved in such activities. The statement said Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is not only sent to the Muslims but to the entire world and is respectful not only for Muslims but for the entire humanity. "Anyone committing blasphemy against the Prophet (PBUH) could not be a member or representative of any religion", the statement added.
It further said the participants of the conference believe that everyone living in Pakistan‚ whether a Muslim or a non-Muslim enjoys equal right to live. The conference also strongly condemned the announcement made by a US pastor Terry Jones to desecrate Holy Qur'an by burning it, a move likely to spark world-wide outrage and hatred. It called upon the government of Pakistan to immediately take up the issue with the US government on diplomatic channels to stop the pastor from desecration of the Holy Qur'an. The conference also urged the western countries particularly the European Union to play their vital role to stop such incidents that resulted in hatred.
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