Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz said on Friday that clerics would not allow dance and music in Pakistan and those interested in such activities should go to India. “We will not wait more ... it will now be Sharia or shahadat (martyrdom),” Aziz said in his Friday sermon at Lal Masjid. Aziz invited exiled Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain for dialogue, but at the same time he accused the MQM chief of murdering “thousands of people”. He said that the MQM had staged a rally against the Lal Masjid administration on the government’s orders. “He (Hussain) should not see the Quran and Sunnah movement through western spectacles ... he should come to Pakistan and know the facts after meeting us,” he added.
Aziz said that no untoward incident had occurred during the ongoing Islamic movement, but said that the Lal Masjid administration was ready to sacrifice everything, including their lives, for the enforcement of Sharia in Pakistan. The Lal Masjid head urged clerics across the country to enforce Sharia in their respective areas. “Pakistan was created in the name of Islam, but Islamic laws have not been enforced in the country even after 60 years of its independence,” he said, vowing that the clerics would now enforce Sharia in Pakistan at any cost. Aziz criticised the Wafaqul Madaris for cancelling the affiliation of the Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia madrassas and said that the Lal Masjid administration would not compromise on its stance.
NNI adds: Talking to a private television channel, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, deputy prayer leader of Lal Masjid and younger brother of Maulana Abdul Aziz, said that non-government organisations were protesting against Jamia Hafsa students to please the West. Ghazi claimed that a large number of people were supporting the Lal Masjid administration for Islamisation in Pakistan, adding that the clericsÂ’ negotiations were continuing with PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the issue was expected to be resolved amicably.