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| India-Pakistan |
| MMA govt to raise awareness against forced Sharia |
| 2007-04-17 |
| The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government is planning on launching an awareness campaign to educate people against using force to fight vice. The campaign is meant to address the anonymous threatening letters that have been received at schools, barbers and music and video shops in recent weeks. “I want the Religious Affairs Ministry to spread the message of peace and virtue across the province. Muslims should follow the path of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) if they want to combat vices in society,” NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani told Daily Times after chairing a provincial seerat conference. The proposed awareness campaign comes on the heels of suggestions from law-enforcement agencies and senior bureaucrats that the matter should be confronted politically and criminal activities should be left to police to tackle. Durrani said that if ulema promised the government their help “we can easily control the issue” of what he called “religious emotions”. “We have to focus on resolving all the issues being faced by the people of Pakistan including the situation arising out of terror incidents in the tribal belt and its impacts on settled areas by adopting a realistic approach towards ground realities,” Durrani added. “We should help people understand that education is not a vice,” Dr Qibla Ayaz, religious scholar, told the conference. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman) provincial ameer Senator Gul Naseeb said no one should be forced to grow a beard if they did not wish to. |
| Posted by:Fred |