Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Thursday condemned the chemical gas attack in Syria and urged the international community, especially Muslim world, to play due role to rid Syrian people of Bashaar al-Asad regime. Speaking at a press conference, Chairman PUC Sahibzada Zahid Mehmood Qasmi along with senior comrades also condemned Lahore terror attack and called on the government to take action against the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
He said that the political and military leadership of Pakistan has decided to become part of Saudi-led Military Alliance after considering the public and national interest. "The Saudi-led military alliance is not against any country or group but it is against the menace of terrorism which has crippled the entire Muslim world for decades," Qasmi said, urging that Muslim countries should play their due role against the ongoing cruelty in Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir, where hundreds of thousands of people are being subjected to terrorism.
He lamented that Syrian children and women were killed through chemical gas attacks also. PUC head asked the government to take action against those international non-government organizations (INGOs) operating in Pakistan through their proxies to destabilise the country.
He and his colleagues requested the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to check activities of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are working on foreign funding against the solidarity and stability of country and Islam. They further asked the government to direct the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe against such NGOs. PUC officials stated that PUC central executive committee has unanimously removed Tahir Ashrafi from the slot of chairman and has elected Sahibzada Zahid Mehmood Qasmi as its new chairman.
The council assured full support to the government for ongoing national census. They said the successful conclusion of census would be a big blow for the terrorists. Qasmi said that the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) including police, rangers and army have rendered countless sacrifices for stability, solidarity and defence of the country, which should be commended.
The PUC leaders said those trying to isolate Pakistan internationally have met with successive failures as a result of counter-strategy of the government. "The political and religious parties need to set a collaborative strategy to purge the country of terrorism," he added.
Qasmi said that the steps taken by the Interior Ministry of Pakistan regarding blasphemous material on social media will pave the way for legislation at international level. He maintained that the government should formulate internal and external policies, independently. "We welcome Imam-e-Ka'aba Al-Sheikh Saleh Bin Muhammad Al Talib and Religious Minister of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh on their visit to Pakistan," he said, adding that the visit would help bring Pakistan and Saudi Arabia closer to each other on regional as well as at international levels.
On the occasion, PUC central vice chairman Peer Khalid Mehmood Qasmi, central secretary Maulana Shah Nawaz Farooqi, Hafiz Muhammad Amjad, Maulana Abdul Mannan Usmani, Maulana Hassan Siddiqui and Maulana Umar Qasmi were also present.
These clerics appealed to the scholars and prayer leaders belonging to different seminaries of Pakistan to make successful the centenarian ceremony of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam being held on April 7, 8 and 9 under the aegis of JUI-F. They urged Ulema belonging to the PUC to attend this procession.
They said that PUC has established a legal committee consisting of five members under the leadership of Mian Muhammad Tayyab Advocate, who has issued a legal notice to Tahir Ashrafi and has also decided to submit a petition in the Election Commission. Now Tahir Ashrafi is no more a chairman of the PUC. They said they had informed the government in written about it and to the foreign diplomats posted in Islamabad about the decision of the consultative body of the PUC.