The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) has decided that it will start a “Deen Bacho Tehreek” (save the religion movement) against the Women’s Protection Act (WPA) and contact other religious parties and clerics for their support, party sources told Daily Times on Monday.The sources said that the JUI-S had also decided to hire lawyers to challenge the WPA in the Supreme Court. They added that these decisions were taken in the JUI-S Majlis Shura meeting held at Akora Khattak a few days ago. The sources said that the meeting also formed four provincial and one central committees to plan the anti-WPA campaign.
The sources said that party chief Maulana Samiul Haq warned the meeting that the government’s next “target” would be amendments to the blasphemy laws. They added that the meeting pledged to launch a campaign against the government to stop it from “anti-Islamic legislation”. The sources said that the meeting criticised MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman for “adopting a friendly behaviour” towards the government. “They (the MMA) are friends of the government and are paving the way for a secular Pakistan,” a participant quoted Haq as telling the meeting.