 The government has ordered legal action against prayer leaders who criticise President Pervez Musharraf's position as army chief and bring up other political issues in their sermons. The Interior Ministry has directed the home secretaries of the four provinces, the chief secretary of the Northern Areas, and the chief commissioner of the federal capital to compile reports about clerics who discuss politics and make anti-government speeches in their Friday sermons, government sources told Daily Times on Sunday. The reports will be used to make legal cases against the clerics. The Interior Ministry also directed the authorities concerned to particularly identify imams appointed by Auqaf departments and who draw their salary from the government but who still make speeches against the government in their sermons, the sources said. The provinces have been asked to take stringent action, including register criminal cases, against imams who "ruin the sanctity" of mosques and politicise Friday congregations, the sources added. |